


Control

by Avery_Q



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Actual and metaphorical puppies, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Torture, dubious scientific explanations, even more dubious politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-09 20:46:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 31
Words: 112,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1997223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avery_Q/pseuds/Avery_Q
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearson Specter gets involved in a case that could affect the future of omega rights, and might have equally disastrous consequences closer to home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing in the fandom, and utterly unbeta'd, so be gentle!  
> (but feel free to poke me if I've made grammatical balls-ups etc)

“Why are we meeting them again?”

“They have an appointment. Do I need Donna to explain to you the concept of ‘clients’ and ‘meetings’ again?”

This earned Harvey a pointed look. 

“Have I ever told you that sarcasm isn’t one of your better features?”

“Probably, I tend to stop listening though when you’re not talking sense.”

Mike sighed. It was clearly going to be a long day. 

“Look Mike, we’re meeting them because they’re very important, extremely wealthy, and they’re seeking legal representation. I can draw you a map if you need more help….”

“Ok, I get that, but why are we meeting with them? Omega rights isn’t one of our areas. Unless the Omega Rights Association is looking to make a hostile takeover, which would be out of character for a charity, I’m not really getting how this fits in our remit.”

Harvey finally looked up at Mike and sighed. He should have known that Mike wouldn’t let it lie if he thought there was something he wasn’t be told. 

“Alright, here’s the thing. And I don’t want you getting all … _you_ about it.”

“What does that…”

“You know what that means. Jessica specifically asked us to meet them because we’re the only Alpha/Omega partner/associate combination.”

Mike looked dumbstruck for a second. “We are? Really? I know there are other omega associates, and I’m pretty sure there are omega partners.”

“There are a few, but they all go together. Most of the alpha partners are a little… old fashioned about who they take as associates. It’s generally assumed that alpha partners will take alpha associates. And of course it makes their partners at home less worried about them having affairs. Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

Mike caught himself just in time and re-positioned his face into a mask of professionalism. 

“OK, but then why not have one of the omega partners and their association meet them? Why us specifically?”

“Did you even read the file I gave you about them? Their current campaign is all about alpha/omega co-operation. Jessica clearly figured it would show them that we are exactly who they want to represent them, kind of like a microcosm of their campaign.”

At this, Mike didn’t even try to stop his eye-rolling. “Microcosm? Really?”

“You’re missing the big picture.”

“Which is?”

“As soon as I said Jessica suggested us for the meeting, you should have shut up and accepted it.”

Mike bit his lip to prevent himself pointing out all the times Harvey had protested against Jessica’s suggestions for clients or otherwise, and instead simply nodded. “Fair enough.”

With impeccable timing, the intercom buzzed. “When you two boys have stopped arguing, your clients are in conference room B. I’m sure they’re quivering with anticipation to see our two poster boys for co-operation”. 

“Thank you Donna, I actually think I’d make an amazing poster boy.”

“It’s a charity, Harvey. I’m not sure ‘smug’ is the look they’re going for. Of course, you could put Mike on one of their posters. ‘Please give so this poor omega can rise above his circumstances. Just 5 dollars a month will help keep him in red bull and ramen’. It would be just like one of those ASPCA adverts.” 

“Ha ha ha. When you’ve quite finished, I’ll be in conference room B”. Mike huffed and walked out the room, past a cackling Donna, with a grinning Harvey following. 

-

Mike wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find in conference room B, but for some reason the people in there took him by surprise. As he and Harvey entered, a handsome woman with slightly greying brunette hair stood up to greet them first, closely followed by two middle-aged men. At first glance, Mike couldn’t have said which, if any, were an omega or an alpha. 

Harvey extended his hand out firmly, “Harvey Specter, it’s a pleasure to meet you Ms Brandon.”

“Thank you Mr Specter, please call me Elizabeth. We have heard good things about this firm with regards to alpha/omega politics, but I find it’s always best to see things up close and personal, as it were. Please let me introduce my colleagues Simon Jenkins” - at this, the shorter of the two men rose and shook Harvey and Mike’s hands – “Simon looks after the business side of the charity for us, makes sure we’re not accidentally investing in any… improper companies that would taint us by association.”

Here she was interrupted by the third man, who also rose to shake the lawyers’ hands, and spoke quietly with a croaky voice and an accent that Mike couldn’t quite place.

“And I am the token alpha on the charity’s board, although sadly rather not in top condition at this moment”. 

Elizabeth laughed at the looks of surprise this was greeted with. 

“Indeed, this is Lord Graham, who is unfortunately beset by laryngitis at present, but did so want to be present at this meeting. For some reason he felt that were he not here, you might not believe he existed”. At this, Elizabeth had a clear twinkle in her eye. “Of course, you’ll understand if he doesn’t do much of the talking. That is, of course, why I am here! Lord Graham is at the forefront of our political work. It sounds very old fashioned, but I’m afraid it’s still the case that more doors can be opened and ears be made available if the person making the request has a title.”

“That I have no trouble at all believing, Elizabeth” Harvey replied smoothly, showing no surprise at all at the presence of a Lord. “But I am confused about your involvement, Lord Graham. I understand it is very common for people in your position to become heavily involved in charities, but I have to ask – why an omega charity? I don’t know any figures, obviously, but I would think it’s highly unusual for an alpha to have a high profile position in a charity like this”. 

Lord Graham coughed discreetly into his handkerchief, and nodded. 

“Please call me Charles. No need to be formal here. I can understand your confusion, but it’s really rather simple. I don’t believe that anyone can consider themselves truly free while there is inequality in …” 

At this, he broke into a further fit of coughing, and Mike jumped up to hand him a glass of water, which was taken gratefully. Harvey held his hand up “it’s fine, I think I understand.”

Lord Graham stood up and managed to croak “if you’ll excuse me…”

“Of course, it’s right down the hall.”

After he’d gone, Jenkins spoke up. 

“Mr Specter, I know what you’re thinking. What’s in it for him? I mean, we’re all omegas fighting for our own rights and recognition. Why should an alpha get involved? But if you could hear him talk on the subject, when he’s giving speeches… it’s inspirational. It’s so important that we get more alphas involved with omega rights. We honestly believe that the way forward is through alphas, betas and omegas working together. It’s the only way things will really change.”

“Well, as you can see, here at Pearson Specter we have no problems with alphas and omegas working together.”

Elizabeth smiled at them. “So your managing partner was telling me. It’s so rare finding alphas and omegas working together as closely as you do in the corporate world. And am I right in thinking neither of you are bonded?”

Mike blushed at this, not really wanting any part of his personal life involved in the discussion. It was bad enough that he already felt like a token without bringing up his lack of a social life too. Harvey, clearly, had no such qualms. 

“That’s right, and it’s not been an issue. Pearson Specter believes in the right person in the right role, whatever their orientation”.

“I’m very happy to hear that Mr Specter. It is, unfortunately, not always the case. And in today’s climate… well, let’s just say I’ll be happy to have representation that we can trust.”

Harvey narrowed his eyes slightly at this, but as he opened his mouth to speak Lord Graham returned. He turned to welcome him, but the man, with an apologetic air, tapped his throat meaningfully. 

“Oh dear, it looks like Charles’ voice has finally given up. I had hoped that he would be the one to go into the details.”

“Unfortunately that seems like it will be impossible in the circumstances. So perhaps you could fill me on what’s not being said?”

Mike groaned internally. Truthfully, he had begun to think they weren’t getting the full story, but had hoped he was being unfairly suspicious. Harvey, however, clearly thought the same, and that meant that this nice, friendly meeting was about to get a lot more  
tense. If there was one thing Harvey hated, it was having the wool pulled over his eyes. 

After a long pause, filled with both sides of the room eyeing each other up, it was Jenkins who spoke first. 

“Please understand, Mr Specter, Mr Ross, that we are not here under false pretences. We are looking for representation for the charity to help with any legal issues which arise during our campaigns for the rights of omegas. I’m sure that you understand that a charity such as ourselves can have a myriad of legal problems which need solving, many with a measure of… let’s say discretion.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, enough dancing around. Mr Specter, I am perfectly content for Pearson Specter to take over as our legal representation, in which case I am assuming that all of this will be covered under attorney/client privilege anyway. Correct?” 

Mike risked a glance at Harvey and saw him nod. Well, whatever was about to be said, it was now their mess to clean up, he figured. Elizabeth returned Harvey’s nod firmly. 

“Good. In that case, let us get to the point. I am sure you are aware of certain… efforts being made by individuals to curtail the hard-won rights that omegas have been fighting for for decades.”

“There are always people trying to turn back the clock, Elizabeth, but the one thing I know about history is it goes forwards. Omegas are in a better position legally now than they’ve ever been. Even in the more… traditional states, omegas are achieving, well, if not actual parity, then close to it. The bigots are losing."

Elizabeth sighed at this. “I wish that were true, Mr Specter. Unfortunately, in equal rights, like in everything else, money talks. There is an election soon, and elections make normally decent, sensible people act in ways that maybe they wouldn’t in normal circumstances”. 

At this, Mike spoke up for the first time. “You’re concerned that one of the major players is going to start suggesting rolling back omega rights as a vote winner, aren’t you?”

“No Mr Ross. I know that one of the candidates is going to. My concern is that he’ll win.”

“Hold on a second,” Harvey cut in. “Ignoring how you know this, why are you so convinced that this will be a vote winner? Omegas have had the vote for years now, politicians win by appealing to them, not by taking away their rights. How does disenfranchising a third of the population become a winning ticket?”

Elizabeth actually snorted at this. “Of course, Mr Specter, you’re right. Just as no politician ever won a seat by denying reproductive rights. Go to the average abortion clinic and you’ll see as many women and omegas protesting as you’ll see men and alphas. More in fact. Besides, when word gets out that there is an anti-alpha conspiracy right in the heart of a respected omega association, people will be clamouring to bring in legislation to control those dangerous omegas.”

“An anti-alpha conspiracy? That’s what this is all about? Someone believes that omegas are planning to… what, kill alphas?”

“Something like that Mr Specter. You have to remember, omegas, and indeed alphas, were created out of fear. The fear that the lack of fertility in a falling population would lead to the end of the human race as we know it. Genetically engineering a solution so that a portion of the population would be extra fertile was seen as a perfect solution. And of course, it was the women’s rights campaigners that led to it not being restricted so that alphas were not automatically men and omegas not automatically women. That was seen as a huge victory for women’s rights, and correctly so. But now omegas are seen as we women used to be seen. We’re getting ‘uppity’ Mr Specter. We don’t just want to be used for breeding, we want to live our own lives, have jobs, even, astonishingly, run our own companies!”

“Alright, I get that some alphas don’t like it. You always meet a few unreconstructed types who don’t get that they’re dinosaurs. But why would people believe that there’s some major omega conspiracy?”

“Because they’ll be shown proof. You are familiar, I take it, with Thomas Mitchell?”

Harvey turned to Mike expectantly, waiting for the inevitable stats to come. 

“Um, yeah, currently 4th in polling. He’s popular amongst certain demographics, mostly white, alpha males, especially in the more rural areas. He’s not been considered a threat for some time though, and most political commentators seem to think he’ll drop out soon”. 

Elizabeth sighed. “He won’t drop out. I have it on good authority that at some point in the next few days, he is going to announce his discovery of a major terrorist plot being planned by the country’s largest omega charity. A plot that could have led to thousands of casualties and only foiled by the diligent investigative work of Senator Mitchell’s chief of staff, who brought him the evidence at considerable risk to himself and his family.” 

Mike sat there stunned. 

“But… there is no plot. Right?”

Jenkins shook his head. “Only in their imaginations. Unfortunately, they will have considerable proof that we have indeed been plotting. You see, Senator Mitchell’s chief of staff was, until last month, our deputy director.”

“His chief of staff is an omega? That doesn’t make sense”. 

“No Mr Ross, Andrew Miller is an alpha like myself”. The croaked voice of Lord Graham startled him; they’d forgotten him sitting quietly in the corner. 

“As I have stated” Elizabeth continued, “we have always welcomed alphas into the charity as we believe in total inclusiveness. Unfortunately, in Mr Miller’s case, we were… misled. We have good reason to believe that he joined us deliberately to gain access to our records and plant false information.”

She paused and glanced between the two lawyers. 

“I hope that you are now both fully clear about what’s at stake. If we cannot prove the allegations false, then it’s not just our charity that may be destroyed. The fight for omega equality could be set back decades.”


	2. Chapter 2

Mike was beginning to wonder if 3am existed anywhere outside of Pearson Spector or if it was a myth, spread by the same people who tried to convince him that beds existed, or meals that weren’t takeout. 

He dropped the latest pile of documents on the floor and stretched, trying to work out the kink in his shoulders. 

“This is hopeless Harvey. How can we prevent them going public with something we don’t even know they have?”

“Elizabeth’s pretty convinced that they’re up to something, and you know as well as I do that that genie would be way too big to put back in the bottle if it came out. Our best bet is to stop it before it starts. The rumours are already out there.”

This was true. They were vague and currently only whispered, but they were definitely there – Senator Mitchell had information that would tarnish in some way the image of the largest lobby group for omega rights, and would be using it to push for tough regulations. It was only a matter of time before something more concrete came out. 

“I talked to Rachel about it when we were researching earlier. She doesn’t believe that any legislation would go through, no matter what incriminating evidence is found.”

“Well she might be right. People have a way of surprising you – I mean, it would be pretty brutal to punish an entire group of people for something a small minority had done in their name. Where’s the historical basis for _that_ kind of over-reaction?”

“Very funny Harvey.” Mike sighed. “Rachel tries to see the good in people.” 

“She’ll need to stop that when she’s a lawyer, it’ll get her nowhere.”

“Harvey stop” Mike stood up, frustrated. “Not everything is a joke you know.”

At this, Harvey fixed him with a long stare. “OK, what’s got into you? I know it’s late, but it’s not like you’re not used to this.”

“It’s a little different when the outcome could affect your entire future. Rachel might believe that people wouldn’t roll over and vote for any anti-omega laws that are rushed through but I think she’s dreaming.”

“Look Mike, I know what I said, but even cynical me doesn’t believe that, I don’t know, omega internment camps are going to spring up everywhere. This isn’t WW2.”

“I wish I was as confident. People re-act badly when they’re afraid, Harvey. And it’s not like there aren’t already anti-omega laws in place.”

“OK, now I _know_ that’s not true. Legally, omegas have all the same rights as alphas.”

“You think so? How about the law that came in this Spring in Texas about medical access in the workplace?”

Harvey was baffled by now. “Assume I’m not as update on out-of-state medical legislation as you are.”

“They brought in regulations stating that any workplace employing more than 5 omegas had to give them access to a registered omega-specialist doctor.”

Confusion radiated from Harvey. “That’s good isn’t it? That’s a good thing, right?”

Mike flopped down onto the couch in disgust. For someone who usually had a razor sharp legal mind, Harvey could be amazingly obtuse about things that he didn’t have any interest in.

“Harvey, we’re in Manhattan. I could probably find a half dozen omega specialists within a minute walk from here. Hell, Jessica could probably employ one specially. But we’re talking Texas. You think omega specialists are that common there? How about the rural areas? I looked it up. There’s four in the entire state. Four. So what do you think will happen?”

Understanding had begun to dawn on Harvey’s face halfway through Mike’s diatribe. “No one will employ omegas”. 

“Correct. And when you take away people’s jobs, then what? I mean sure, people can move, assuming other states don’t follow suit. But what about those who can’t? The right to work is a basic human right. When you take that away, it’s the first step in making people… not people.”

At this, Harvey crossed the room and sat down by Mike, who had his head in his hands. He rested his hand gently on his back.

“I’m sorry.”

Mike looked up, startled. ‘Sorry’ was generally not in Harvey’s vocabulary. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry. I hadn’t really considered how this was affecting you. If I’m honest… I kind of forgot you were an omega.”

The look of incredulity on Mike’s face at this point was a picture. 

“I’m serious. I’ve never really considered you in that way. You’re just… you. I know you’re an omega as a fact, in the abstract, but I guess I just needed reminding that for you it’s not just an abstract thing.”

“Well. Thank you? I guess? For not … thinking of me like that? Whatever that entails…” Mike shook his head at that, not wanting to think about Harvey actively thinking of him as an omega would involve. 

“You’re welcome,” Harvey grinned. “And while I still think that the situation isn’t as dire as your pessimistic little genius brain is telling you it is, we’re going to find a way to stop it before it starts. Okay?”

“Okay”. 

“Good. Now, if you’ve done with your freak-out, get back to work.”

Mike grinned at him, and picked up the most recent stack of documents, burying himself in them again. So he didn’t see that Harvey continued to stare at him, a contemplative look on his face. 

-

It was just past 11am when Jessica entered the office. She raised an eyebrow at the towering piles of documentation covering nearly every square inch of the room, but instead of commenting on the fact that Harvey’s office now closely resembled the filing room, she dropped the bombshell.

“Gentlemen. I can see you’re both figuratively and it seems literally buried in paperwork, but I do hope that you have something we can use amongst all of this chaos.”

Harvey knew he couldn’t outright lie to her, so instead said “We will have. It’s just a matter of time. No one gets to this guy’s position without an entire graveyard of skeletons somewhere.”

“Unfortunately, time is something we no longer have. Senator Mitchell is arriving in New York this Friday for the next step of his campaign trail, the highlight of which will be his visit to the Alpha Centre, who, as you are aware, is his largest individual donor. According to his spokesperson, he is set to give a speech confirming that he is not, in fact, dropping out of the race and will instead be campaigning as an independent for President”. 

“You think that’s where he’ll make the announcement?”

“Wouldn’t you? Guaranteed world-wide press coverage, and audience of his most loyal followers.”

“Wait…” Jessica and Harvey both turned to Mike. “Mr Ross?”

“You’re right Ms Pearson. It’s a guaranteed global audience.”

Harvey rolled his eyes. “And your point is?”

“If I were an omega terrorist, which incidentally I’m not, what target would be the one to attack? How about a politician known to be _unfriendly_ towards omega rights, speaking in front of an audience almost entirely made up of alphas, in front of the world’s press?”

Jessica frowned at this. “You think he’s going to announce that they were the target, right there, whilst speaking to them? It would be risky, if he caused a panic it could be counter-productive. It would make more sense to tell them of a previous threat that he’d foiled, surely?” 

During the conversation, Harvey could tell that Mike was getting increasingly agitated. “What are you thinking, Mike?”

“What if it’s not just a threat? From what Ms Brandon and the ORO told us, we’ve been looking for evidence that the Senator has been trying to frame them for a non-existent atrocity. What if it’s not non-existent? What if they’re actually planning to do it?”

“The ORO is hardly a terrorist organisation….”

“I don’t mean the ORO, I mean the Senator and his co-conspirators or whatever you call them. If he gets up there and announces that he’s found evidence of some plot, it will be a big deal, investigations made, questions asked in the Senate, all that shit. But if there’s an actual attempt on his life, when the world is watching….”

“… then suddenly it’s not just a crazy right-wing politician with issues, it’s a matter of national security” Jessica finished.

“Holy shit. That would be crazy. This isn’t _24_ you know, Mike. I know you’re a fan, but the world isn’t one big conspiracy theory waiting to happen.”

To both their surprises, it was Jessica who spoke up next. “No, he’s right. Harvey, this is already a conspiracy. The question is only how big the inevitable bang is, whether the explosion is metaphorical or physical. And the truth is, once you concede that the one is possible, then it follows that so is the other.”

Silence fell at this, as the implications sank in. 

“Well, right now we have nothing, just some hearsay from a disgruntled ex-employer. There’s nothing we can take to the cops right now.”

“Which is why you two are going to keep digging. Get Ms Zane to come and help you as well. And you better speak to Ms Brandon and her colleagues again, find out if there’s any reason to think that Miller might be violent. 

“Sorry for interrupting, but I think you might be able to make up your own minds about that very soon.”

Donna was in the doorway, looking as close to ruffled as she ever did. 

“Meaning…?”

“Senator Mitchell is here to see you. He’s in conference room C, along with his right hand man, two gentlemen who I assume are his legal representation, and about half a dozen scary-ass looking bodyguards. I don’t think he’s here on a courtesy visit.”

“Well it looks like your digging hasn’t gone un-noticed. We had better go and greet the Senator and see what he wants.”

At this, Jessica turned to look at Donna. “Donna, please make the Senator comfortable, offer him and his retinue tea and coffee, and tell him that we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“Gotcha. Make him wait, huh? I guess even Senators have to answer to Jessica Pearson”. 

Jessica cracked a small smile. “You’re damn right they do. Harvey, I’ll meet you two in, let’s say, ten minutes. That should give them enough time to sweat a little about what we might know.” 

After the women had gone, Mike turned to Harvey. “So what do we do now? They obviously know we’re looking for something, so how are we going to play it?” 

“ _We_ aren’t doing anything. You’re not coming.”

“What?” Mike’s voice was practically a squeak with indignation. 

“I’m serious. I don’t want you in that room.”

Mike was actually struck dumb by this. He gaped at Harvey in astonishment, but as he found his voice Harvey cut him off. 

“Mike, listen to me. This isn’t about you or your ability or anything like that. This isn’t a punishment or any kind of lack of faith in you, or anything else your brain is currently trying to tell you is my motive. I just… I don’t want you in the room with him. With either of them.”

“You think I won’t be able to control my temper around them?”

“You’re not listening to me. This isn’t about you, it’s about them. I don’t trust them. You said it yourself, they’re trying to set omega rights back years, they want to turn them into non-humans, into property. I don’t want you in the room with those men. I’d say the same to Rachel or any of our other omega employees, OK?”

“Your boss is missing a trick. I’m certain if there was someone as … distracting as you in the room when we’re having our little chat then he’d have been able to get any information out of me he pleases.”

Mike spun round at this, Harvey’s face going instantly blank. 

“Senator Mitchell, I apologise but I was under the impression we were meeting in conference room A”. Mike could now see Donna over the Senator’s shoulder, making frantic, apologetic gestures. 

“You’re quite right, your incredibly efficient secretary made us most comfortable in there, but I’m afraid I had to answer a call of nature, and as I saw your name on the door while passing thought I’d introduce myself. I’m so glad I did, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of meeting your lovely young associate here. As I’m sure you’re aware, I don’t go in for these new fangled notions of omegas taking jobs more suited for alphas, but even I have to admit they make the place much more, shall we say, decorative?”

Mike by now could feel himself growing red with humiliation, and didn’t have to turn around to know that Harvey’s fists were twitching. As he stood there, trying desperately to think of a way to extricate himself from the situation without Harvey punching the Senator and getting them all arrested, Donna cut in. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt gentlemen, but Mike you’re needed by Mr Litt. You should have been in his office five minutes ago and you know how he doesn’t like being kept waiting.”

The Senator chuckled at this. “I’m afraid that’s my fault, I delayed the boy as it’s not often I get to enjoy such pretty distractions. Apparently it’s frowned upon these days to employ omegas purely for decoration. Such a shame.”

At this, Mike didn’t even glance back at Harvey, he fled the room as fast as he could, although not fast enough to prevent the Senator ‘accidentally’ brushing against him as he squeezed past to the door. As he left, trying not to actually break into a run, he heard Harvey say in a tight, clipped voice “Shall we join the others in the conference room, Senator? Then you can enlighten us to the reason behind your unexpected visit”. 

-

It was barely half an hour later when Harvey found Mike hiding in Rachel’s office. He hovered at the door for a few seconds before entering, watching them. They were sitting behind her desk, bent over some papers that had presumably been rescued from Harvey’s office while he’d been in the meeting. Mike looked to Harvey a lot calmer, but he could tell he’d been greatly disturbed by what had happened. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered, holding up his hand to forestall the inevitable flood of questions that Mike would ask. 

“Don’t ask, I have no idea”. 

“Um, what?” Mike’s questioning expression, changed to puzzlement. 

“You were going to ask why they came to see us. And frankly I’m still none the wiser.”

“I don’t understand. I mean, you’re out of there a hell of a lot quicker than I expected. What happened?”

“Very little. Jessica and I went in there expecting the third degree about why we’re investigating them, probably followed up with every legal trick in the book to get us to stop, but there was just… nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Oh, they gave us some brief bluster about knowing we were representing the ORO and were checking up on them, but that was basically it. They just insisted we wouldn’t find anything, then left.”

“That’s really strange. It’s like they weren’t even trying. I mean, I could do a better shakedown than that and I’m not a powerful senator.”

“That is very true, you aren’t. And for that, right now, I’m very grateful. I feel like I’m going to need five showers to remove the stink from my hand from shaking his.” 

Rachel made a face at this. “Was he that bad? He always comes across as quite charming on TV, like a Southern gentleman.”

“Yeah,” Mike said, “as long as you’re not listening to what he’s actually saying in that charming way. I’m glad he didn’t see you, I think he might have had an actual heart attack.”

Rachel rubbed his back gently. “I’m sorry you had to experience it though. I can’t believe there are still people who think it’s OK to treat us like meat.”

“It’s fine, it just threw me. I guess I’m not used to being objectified like that. I can’t imagine what you’ve had to go through.”

“Anyway,” Harvey coughed, “they’ve gone now, so it’s back to business. We need to find anything we can to try and pin these lowlifes down. I want you to go over to the ORO and speak to Elizabeth Brandon, and anyone else you can find, who used to work with Miller. Anyone who could shed any light on what he might have been up to while he was there.”

“Are you sure? You wouldn’t rather I carried on going through the paperwork?”

“Oh, there’s plenty more paperwork for when you get back. But you’re a people person, and you’re an omega. They’re more likely to talk to you about any suspicions than to me.” 

“Fair enough, I’ll head over there now. Let me know if you find anything in the meantime though.” 

Grabbing his messenger bag, he disappeared out the door and headed for the elevators. Harvey followed him out of Rachel’s office and called after him, “And keep me updated!”

“Will do!” 

Watching him go, Harvey felt a strong sense of unease. He hadn’t mentioned to Mike the final exchange they had had. When the Senator and his team had stood up to end the meeting, Jessica had expressed surprise at its brief length. 

“You’ve come all the way here for a twenty minute meeting which you could have achieved over the phone. Surely you have better things to do with your time, Senator?”

“On the contrary, Ms Pearson, I think this was absolutely worthwhile. I personally have got exactly what I came for. Oh, and do say goodbye to that associate of yours. I’d hate him to think I’d forgotten him already. Good day to you both.”

-

It was after 7pm when Mike finally left the ORO, feeling deflated. He had found no one either willing or able to say anything against Andrew Miller. Everyone he’d spoken to had either had a sudden attack of amnesia, or had barely worked with him. The worst accusation he’d found was that Miller could be a bit dictatorial, but most of the staff had put that down to him being an alpha surrounded by omegas. There seemed to be an unspoken feeling that it was only natural that he’d boss them around, a thought that Mike found profoundly depressing. 

Elizabeth Brandon hadn’t been a lot more help. He’d explained to her their fears about there being an actual plot, but she’d been unwilling to consider it. “I can believe a lot of Andrew,” she’d said, “but I can’t imagine he’d actually put people’s lives at risk. I’m sure it’s all invented.”

Sighing, he headed towards the curb to signal a cab, when one pulled up right by him. It was about time he had a bit of good luck, he figured, climbing in and giving the address of Pearson Hardman. 

Distracted by his thoughts of what might happen at the rally, it was nearly 10 minutes before he realised they were driving down an unfamiliar street. Of course, he had to pick a driver determined to squeeze him by taking him the scenic route. 

“Hey, I’m a native New Yorker, don’t try and stiff me by going the long way around dude. Hey man, are you listening to me?”

Instead of the inevitable argument that Mike was expecting, the driver pressed a button and a partition rose between them. Mike took a deep breath and told himself not to panic. It was obviously more than just the usual cabdriver trying to squeeze some extra cash out of a dumb tourist. He carefully tried the doors, but found them locked. Trying to keep calm, he reached into his jacket for his phone, and groaned internally at the inevitable empty space. He’d have to wait until the cab stopped and try and make a run for it when the driver tried to rob him, which he figured was the plan. After all, he was wearing a nice(ish) suit and was obviously a professional, the driver clearly thought he’d be a soft touch. 

It was another 10 minutes, with Mike’s panic levels steadily rising, before the car slowed down and came to a stop. Tensing, he braced himself against the door, ready to kick out at whoever opened the other side. It obviously wasn’t his lucky day at all; both doors opened at once, and he had to scrabble to stop himself falling out the side he’d pushed himself against. Cold metal at his temple immediately made him freeze.

“Get out the car, and kneel down.”

The driver of the cab had disappeared. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the man holding a gun at his head was all in black and wearing a mask. Climbing out of the cab, it was almost pitch black, the only light coming from inside the car, but he realised that they were inside some kind of lockup. Trying to get his bearings, he paused, only to get a hard kick on the back of his knee from the other man, forcing him down. 

“I said kneel, you little omega whore.”

Mike suddenly knew that this wasn’t a robbery, and it wasn’t opportunistic. He also knew, with absolute certainty, that he wasn’t getting out of this alive. 

He knelt down, the gun still fixed at his temple, and felt a sharp prick at the side of his neck. It only took a few seconds before his eyes rolled back into his skull and he fell forward.


	3. Chapter 3

Harvey was not one to admit to defeat, but even he was beginning to have doubts about this ‘conspiracy’. Him and Rachel had spent the entire day going through file upon file, but so far nothing was coming up. Now it was past 11pm and all they had to show for their day was a pile of useless paperwork and a heap of empty takeout boxes. 

“This is ridiculous. Nobody can be this clean. This isn’t like looking for a needle in a haystack, it’s like looking for a needle in… a bunch of other needles.” Rachel dropped the file she’d just finished with a thud. “I hope Mike had better luck at the ORO than we’re having.”

“I doubt it. I asked him to let me know if he got anything worthwhile and he’s not been in touch.” He checked his watch and sighed. “OK, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to call Mike and tell him to head home rather than come back here. We’re going to go and get some sleep. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re going to reconvene with Jessica and see where we are. It’s only Tuesday tomorrow – if there _is_ a conspiracy, we have three full days to find it. That’s two more than Jack Bauer gets, and we’re smarter than he is.”

“Um, right. We’re not going to chop anyone’s finger off though, right? Or do the ‘towel trick’?”

“Not unless we have to.” Harvey grinned, pressing speed dial 1 on his phone, giving a decent impression of serene confidence that he definitely wasn’t feeling inside.

“Goddamn Mike, do you ever pick up your phone? Never mind. I’m calling to tell you to go home, get some sleep, and get your ass back here for 7am. I hope for your sake you get this message before you’ve come all the way back here tonight, but if not, then maybe that’s a lesson learned.”

As they walked to the elevator, Rachel shook her heard in mock despair. “I will never understand how someone who is so brilliant can have such a huge blind spot when it comes to his phone.” 

Harvey nodded, distracted, as the doors opened. “Well, we all have our own blindspots don’t we?”

-

“Ow”

The first thing that went through Mike’s head as he woke up was a blinding stab of pain – it felt like the top of his head was being unscrewed and someone was stabbing icicles into his brain. He tried to open his eyes, but the bright light had the effect of making the icicles feel as if they were actually swirling his brain around, so he shut them again immediately and tried to take stock of the situation in darkness. 

So…. he was alive. That was a plus, and not an altogether expected on. His head hurt. That was bad, but bearable. He lay still, taking stock of what information he could gather about his surroundings. Apart from his head, he seemed to be fairly comfortable, lying on what felt like a bed, with his top half raised at an angle. So, maybe a hospital bed? Maybe he’d actually lucked out for once in his life and someone had found him and brought him to a doctor! I mean, his previous shitty luck had to be cancelled out one day, right?

He heard a door open, and tried again to crack his eyes open a slit. Everything seemed like a white blur, with a fuzzy figure walking to him. 

“Oh good, you’ve woken up. I was getting a bit worried about how long you out for, but now you’re awake you should be feeling better in no time. The drug they gave you can make you feel a bit woozy, but that will wear off pretty soon. “ The voice belonged to a woman, and sounded cheerful. Mike was beginning to feel increasingly optimistic about his current circumstances. 

“My head feels like someone is attacking it with a sledgehammer”. As he spoke, his voice sounded weird to him, all thick and fuzzy. 

“Yeah, it can have that effect unfortunately. I think they gave you a bit too much, but don’t worry, there won’t be any lasting damage. Here,” she sat down next to him on the bed, putting her arm round his back to help him sit up a bit more, and handed him a couple of small white pills and a plastic cup. “This should make you feel a bit more human at least.”

Mike took the pills gratefully and swallowed down all the water, his throat feeling blissfully less gunked up and fuzzy. 

The woman smiled at him, as if he’d done something particularly clever. “Good boy.”

“Um, sorry, but where am I? and who are you? Um, not necessarily in that order. I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude or seem ungrateful…” Now that his eyes were fully open, he could take in both the woman and his surroundings. She was a pleasant enough looking brunette, with her hair tied up in a tight bun and a white coat on. The room he was in seemed to confirm his theory about being in a hospital; everything was white. There was little furniture – a low table with what looked like a fridge unit underneath held a jug and some plastic cups. Above it was a cupboard with a large padlock on it. Apart from the door the woman had entered by, there was another on the opposite side of the room. Apart from that, the only other furniture was a plain wooden chair that the woman turned to sit on. It took him barely 3 seconds to take this all in, before she spoke, smiling still. 

“That’s quite alright, Michael. It’s not rude, of course you want to know who I am and where you are. This is the International Centre for Alpha/Omega Research, although we tend to call it the Eyesore. Scientist humour, eh? It’s best to roll your eyes and pretend to laugh.”

“Um, yeah. Funny…”

She coughed into her hand. “Anyway. My name is Dr Alison Williams, you can call me either Dr Williams or Alison, whatever you prefer. I’m not precious. “

“I’m sorry, I still don’t understand….”

“Oh, there’s always an adjustment period, don’t you worry. That’s one of the things I’m here to help with. All of our test subjects have a research associate assigned to them, and it’s your lucky day cos you’ve got me!”

“My lucky day…. What do you mean test subject?”

“Oh I’m sorry, I was forgetting that you’re not a lab-bred subject! I guess this is a bit of a surprise for you, eh?”

“That would be an understatement!”

Dr Williams checked the watch pinned to her lab coat. “I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to go into a full history of the research centre, but if you like, I’ll pop back at the end of my shift and give you the history lesson. Would you like that?”

In the midst of his growing bafflement, Mike was beginning to get the impression that the doctor thought he was either 10 years old or had doubts about his mental ability. Either way, he knew that if he was to get out of whatever situation he’d found himself in, he’d need more information about where he was. If he let her believe that he wasn’t too bright as well, that might be a bonus, so he just nodded at her.

“Excellent. Now, Dr Jackson will be along in a few minutes to introduce himself and sort out tagging you. Be a good boy for him, and I’ll see you when I’m off shift, OK Michael?”

And with that, she was gone. Mike took a deep breath and tried to take stock of the situation. Clearly he’d been far too optimistic to think he had been rescued. Instead of being in a nice, friendly hospital, he’d somehow ended up as a lab-rat in some unethical facility. Given the ORO case, he found it hard to believe it was a coincidence, so … had he been kidnapped to order? Senator Mitchell or Andrew Miller must have some kind of tie to this place and arranged him to get him out the way, but why? To throw Harvey off his game? Or had he been getting too close with his questioning around the ORO earlier?

His head buzzing with these questions, he pulled the sheet off the bed and swung his legs off. As he did so, he realised two things; firstly, he was dressed only in white boxers and a plain white t-shirt. He couldn’t remember what underwear he’d put on the day before, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t what he was now wearing, meaning he’d been stripped of all his clothes and re-dressed. OK, that was creepy, but he could hardly expect them to experiment on him while he was in a suit, could he? The thought made him laugh, and once he started he couldn’t stop. Realising he was becoming hysterical, he managed to steady himself against the table and poured himself some water, gulping it down. 

“For fucks sake Mike, get a hold of yourself. You’re not going to get out of here by losing it”. Gripping the table, he took several deep breaths until he felt calmer again. Once he figured he was functioning properly, he reached over and opened the second door, finding a surprisingly large bathroom behind it, with a toilet, sink and a huge, sunken bathtub. That was… strange. A shower he could understand but this was frankly weird. His thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a tinny voice coming from the door through which Dr Williams had left. 

“Good afternoon Mr Ross, my name is Doctor Jackson, please lie back down on the bed.”

The male voice had an English accent, and seemed polite (although, Mike considered, all English accents seemed polite to him). But Mike was tired and confused, and more than a little scared. 

“Why? Why should I do anything you ask of me?”

“Mr Ross, I won’t ask again. I am not a patient man. I understand Dr Williams has already informed you that I would be coming along. Now as you are new, you aren’t to know that that means you should be waiting for me on the bed, ready for my examination, but now you _do_ know and I won’t ask you again. If you do not get back onto the bed immediately I shall be forced to call the orderlies.”

Something in the way Dr Jackson mentioned the orderlies led Mike to the conclusion that this wouldn’t be a good thing, so he climbed back on the bed, although as a small act of rebellion he didn’t lie down. 

As he sat, the lights in the room went off, leaving him in total darkness. He heard the click of the door, and could sense the man coming towards him. In a swift motion, the doctor reached around Mike’s head and fixed a blindfold on him. He then heard the click of a lights witch, but the blindfold was obviously well made, not even letting a sliver of light in. 

“Now then. In the future, Dr Williams will blindfold you on her rounds before I visit, but she felt you needed a few minutes to adjust to your surroundings.” 

“Why do I need to be blindfolded?”

Even without being able to see, Mike could tell that the doctor was irritated by being questioned. 

“Mr Ross, I understand you have questions about your position here in this facility, but I have neither the time nor the patience to coddle you. Dr Williams is more than capable of telling you anything you _need_ to know when she attends you after I am finished.”

The emphasis on ‘need’ didn’t escape Mike, and he got the distinct impression he wasn’t going to get all the answers he wanted from Dr Williams. 

“As I have stated I am in a rush this afternoon, so unfortunately I don’t have time to do my usual preliminary testing. That shall have to wait until tomorrow when I return. Whilst I usually wait to tag any test subject until after the tests, I think that as you are a special case I can proceed. Now hold out your left hand.”

Mike had to bite his lip to keep from asking about why he was a special case, and instead gingerly held out his hand. He felt Doctor Jackson grip his hand and turn it, so it was palm up, then felt it suddenly go cold as some kind of greasy substance was smeared on him. Before he could wonder about that, he felt a sudden, searing pain in his wrist, and cried out. 

“There, done. Doctor Williams will be along shortly. You can remove the blindfold once I’ve gone and leave it on the table. Tomorrow we can go through your preliminary testing”

He left Mike, doubled over in agony, clutching his arm. He could smell the burning flesh. 

Through the pain, Mike heard the loud click of the door shutting behind Doctor Jackson, and reached up to pull the blindfold off. As he got used to the sudden, bright light, the tears of pain leaking from his eyes blurred his vision further. Reaching up, he scrubbed at his eyes with his good hand, frustrated. Gritting his teeth, he slowly looked down to his left wrist to see what damage had been done, and had to choke back the sob that threatened to come out. On his wrist, freshly branded and almost glowing with an angry redness, was a bar code.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's going to get darker from here in so please do pay attention to the tags.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional warning for this chapter (and the following ones if I'm honest). REALLY BAD SCIENCE. Seriously. Anything even vaguely scientific in this fic can be happily treated as bullshit. Just go with it ;)

Despite telling Rachel to go and get some sleep, 2am found Harvey on his balcony, a glass of scotch in his hand. If there had been anyone there to see him, he would have insisted that he was thinking about the case, but that was only true in a very roundabout way. He was thinking about alphas and omegas. He knew the history, of course - the reasons behind the genetic experiments, the long fight for omega equality which had followed and, he thought, been won – but he also knew the _romance_ of it, the fairy tale. As an alpha, you’d find an omega perfect for you, you’d fall head over heels in love, bond, and live happily ever after. The trouble was, that’s all it was, a fairy tale. 

Oh, there were couples who did live happily ever after, he was sure. Statistically there had to be. But there were many, many more who, after the buzz of pheromones and the warm glow of bonding had died down, realised they had nothing in common past their biology. He remembered the first time his father had told him about meeting his mother, how he felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. A whirlwind romance and ‘the greatest honeymoon the world has ever seen’, as his dad had told him with a wink, had led to nothing but regret. His father had thrown himself into his music, while his mother… his mother had gone out trying to capture the same buzz she’d felt the first time. 

He sighed, downing the last of his scotch, and headed back inside. As he lay down, in an attempt to get at least a couple of hours sleep before heading back to the office, he wondered briefly if he’d ever feel that buzz. He’d bedded enough omegas and betas to have a pretty good sample size, after all, even a few alphas in there to mix things up a bit, but he’d never felt… well, anything really, past a certain fondness. Certainly nothing approaching what he felt for people who were merely his friends of family; Marcus, Donna, Jessica, and more recently, Mike. Ha, he snorted to himself, he felt more of a buzz working with Mike every day than he had with any of his conquests. 

-

“Michael? Come on Michael, let me have a look at it. Don’t be a baby, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt as much as you think it does. Let me see.”

Mike had been curled up in a tight ball on the bed since Doctor Jackson had left, cradling his arm against his chest. At Dr Williams’ voice, he uncurled, as much in indignation at the way she was patronising him as any desire to have his arm seen to. 

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Let’s have a look. Dr Jackson is very good at what he does, this will heal up in no time.”

“What is it? What does it mean?” Mike flinched at the sound of his voice. It sounded unlike him, croaky and unsure. He watched as Dr Williams started applying some cream, then wrapping his wrist in what looked like plastic wrap. 

“Oh dear, someone needs to brush up on their omega history, don’t they? Let me guess, you skipped those lessons at school? It used to be traditional for alphas to tattoo their omegas with a unique code, so they could be identified, and if necessary, returned. Dr Jackson is a very traditional alpha, you’ll soon find that out for yourself. Of course, times have moved on, so instead of a lengthy code we find it much better using a barcode – you can get so much information into them, you know. If I were to scan your one now, it would tell me your name, your age, and Dr Jackson’s contact information, along with a request to return you to him. Much more sensible than a tag, right?”

She finished her bandaging and patted his hand in satisfaction of a job well done. “There, all finished. You won’t even be able to feel it soon.”

“Why not go the whole way and microchip me like a dog?”

“One thing at a time, dear.” She smiled at him. “Now, I’m going to guess that it might be tricky to get to sleep tonight with all the excitement, so I’m going to give you a little help.”

Before Mike could protest at being drugged again, Dr Williams had brought a syringe out of her coat pocket and jabbed it into his arm. His vision quickly started to grow back, and he felt himself being lowered back onto the bed.

“Have a good sleep, Michael. I’ll come back in the morning and we can start our tests.”

-

Harvey was pissed off. He’d managed to get only two hours sleep, coming back in to the office by 6. Rachel and Donna had both shown up at 7, they’d started back where they’d stopped the night before. Which just left Mike. 

“DONNA!”

“You don’t have to yell you know, I can hear you perfectly fine. And yes, I have tried calling again, and no, he hasn’t picked up yet.”

“Goddammit. He better have a good excuse this time.”

“A good excuse for what? Is there a problem”. Jessica had impeccable timing as always. 

“Just an associate who is soon to be ex if he doesn’t get his ass into this office damn soon.”

“He’s your puppy, Harvey, it’s your job to clean up after him, remember?”

“I know, I just thought he’d be house-trained by now. Instead…”

“There’s pee all over the floor?”

Donna poked her head around the door. “Before this metaphor gets any more tortured, I’m going to go check the file room. For all we know he’s already down there working.”

Harvey waved his hand at her and watched her stalk down the corridor. 

“I’ll keep calling him while she’s gone, Mr Specter”.

“Thank you Rachel. So Jessica. I know you’re not here to help look for my rookie.”

“Good guess. I think it’s time to get Louis involved.”

“What? No. Why? I know we haven’t turned up anything yet, but …”

“But nothing. Look Harvey, it isn’t as if I want two of my senior partners wasting their time on what could be a wild goose chase when they could be out there bringing me in money. But this is going nowhere. I’m going to bring Louis in, and he can follow the money. You know as well as I do, if something is going on, money will be involved. Heavily. And no one is better than Louis at following the trail bagging the prey.”

“Animal metaphors again?”

“Harvey….”

Harvey recognised the warning look on Jessica’s face and decided not to push it. “Fine. Louis is in. It’s only for 3 days anyway, one way or another. Wait, can you hear something?”

Jessica and Harvey both fell silent, and Rachel looked up from the couch, where she was still trying to call Mike. They could all hear it now – growing steadily louder was a ringtone they all recognised, usually from hearing it at inappropriate times. 

Donna walked into the office, holding the phone. 

“I heard it ringing from his desk as I walked past. I guess he left it here before he went to the ORO yesterday.”

“But if he didn’t get my message not to come back to the office last night, then where the hell is he?”

-

“Morning sunshine. Time to wake up. Got a big day ahead”.

Mike groaned. His head was fuzzy, and his mouth felt like something dusty had crawled into it and died. As if she knew what he was thinking, Dr Williams handed him a cup of water, which he downed gratefully and then sat up. 

“Now, before we start, I thought you’d probably have some questions.”

“A few, yeah….”

“I figured. Well, in that case, here are the ground rules. Number 1, don’t ask Dr Jackson anything.”

“Yeah, I’d already got that one.”  
She smirked at him. “Already tried, huh? He’s a very busy man, and he just doesn’t have time to deal with every silly little thing that our residents might want to know.”

“Silly little thing like ‘why have I been kidnapped’?”

“Now don’t be so melodramatic. Number 2, you can ask me anything you want. I can’t promise I will always be able to tell you the answer, but I won’t lie to you. If I can’t answer, or I don’t know, I will tell you that. Anything I do tell you, you can trust is the truth. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am”. 

Dr Williams preened at this, but said “Oh hush now, with your ‘ma’am’. Just call me Alison. We’re going to be getting to know each other pretty well, so it’s silly to be formal, isn’t it, Michael?”

Mike briefly considered telling her that he preferred Mike, but he was struck by a sudden desire not to have anyone in this place call him that, so he remained silent. 

“Now, can you just slip off your t-shirt for me? Is your arm feeling better this morning?”

As he pulled his shirt over his head, Mike realised that his arm was in fact feeling a lot better, so he nodded. 

“I told you, didn’t I? Now this will just be a little sting…” 

As she spoke, she produced a needle that looked a fair bit larger than the one she’d used to sedate him the previous night, and jabbed it into his upper arm. 

“What was that Dr… I mean, Alison?”

“That was your microchip dear.”

Mike stared at her in astonishment. His earlier sarcasm suddenly didn’t seem as funny.

Misconstruing his expression, she continued. “It’s a backup really to the barcode. It has the same information on it when it’s read.” As she spoke, she waved a strange looking piece of kit that looked a little like a wand, nodding in satisfaction when it beeped as it passed over his arm. 

“This way, it’s even easier to find you, as it has a tracking device in. We can see where you are to within 20 feet so you need never worry about being lost. Isn’t that nice? Now, just a few simple tests to start with to get your basic information. So what else would you like to know?”

Mike’s mind started to whirl as he was ushered over to a set of scales and weighed, then had his height measured. The answer to her question was obviously ‘everything’, but he knew there was no point in saying that, so instead tried to figure out what might help him to know. As he sat down to have his blood pressure measured, he spoke carefully.

“What other tests are you going to be doing to me? What is it you’re using me to research?”

“Hmmm. Well if I were to sum up our research in as general a way as possible, I’d say that we’re researching the bonds between alphas and omegas. What makes them, how they happen, what effect they have on the biology of those involved. As far as you’re concerned, we’ll be testing things like how your brain functions, hormone levels, if there are any psychic links to your bonding partner… It’s a very exciting area of study!”

Alison’s eyes were bright as she talked, and she was clearly getting more and more excited as she went on, carrying on speaking while she was drawing Mike’s blood into a number of carefully labelled vials.

“There’s so much we don’t know, you see! What makes an alpha bond with a particular omega? Can you force a bond? How does the omega’s body change when in heat compared with its normal state?”

Mike listened with growing horror, but the point when he fully realised what was going to happen was when she had casually asked if you could force a bond. Unlike Harvey, Mike tended towards the more romantic view of alphas and omegas. Oh, he wasn’t completely naïve, he knew that there wasn’t always a happy ever after. But he’d still always hoped to one day feel the thrill of a true bond. The thought of being bonded to someone without consent was almost unbearable, and made him feel suddenly nauseous. Not trusting himself to speak, he made frantic gestures with his free arm. 

“Oh dear, are you going to be sick, come on Michael, let’s get you to the toilet. I should have thought that taking all this blood when all you’ve had to eat or drink is some water would make you feel sick!”

Mike didn’t bother to correct her as he staggered into the bathroom and threw up the water he’d drunk earlier. When he’d finally stopped retching, he slumped against the bowl, and found a cap pressed into his hand. 

“Drink it slowly, just sip it, OK? It’s alright, I’ve taken all the blood I need for the moment.”

“What’s it for?” Mike’s voice came out slightly slurred, as he sipped some more of the blissfully ice cold water, concentrating on the feeling of it as he swallowed, rather than thinking about what he’d already learned. 

“When you do any experiment, you need a kind of control group. In this case, we need some of your blood taken when you’re in your normal condition to then compare to when you’re in a more heightened state, such as when you’re in heat. I’m also curious as to whether the simple fact of an alpha being in intimate proximity to an omega has an effect on their biology. Now, can you stand up for me? Let’s get you back onto the bed shall we?”

Feeling week and pathetic, he leaned on Alison as she led him back to the bed. 

“So now you know about our research. I’ve got another 10 minutes, so what else would you like to know?”

“How many… I mean, are there other omegas here like me?”

“We’ve had a few here, but right now it’s just you. That makes you pretty special, eh?”

“But… why me?”

“I’m afraid that’s something I can’t really give you an answer to. Dr Jackson chooses his subjects very carefully, and he doesn’t always share his full reasoning with me. But historically, with our other test subjects, he’s always been very careful to choose omegas who have no outside ties, no families.” She sighed. “It’s an unfortunate fact that the nature of our work means that subjects such as yourself are isolated for long periods of time. It wouldn’t be fair to do that to omegas with family or friends who they’d miss, or would miss them, now, would it? And of course it would defeat the point to choose a bonded omega! I’m guessing you don’t have a family to miss you?”

Mike bit his lip, and whispered “no, no family.”

“That’s what I thought. But don’t you worry – we’re like one big family here! You can think of me as a mother! You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

Mike was thankful that she didn’t give him a chance to respond to his before continuing. 

“So, next question?”

“Why did he blindfold me? You don’t mind me seeing you…”

“Ah, that’s part of the experiment. Dr Jackson wants to make sure that any connection between alpha and omega is pure.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Well, sexuality is a funny thing Michael. We’re all attracted to different types – blond, brunet, fat, thin, and we’re all influenced by cultural expectations of beauty. Dr Jackson wants to look purely at the biological impulses of the omega, without being influenced by looks. If you were to see him and be attracted to him, it would be much harder to tell how much is your biology and how much is your head telling you to be attracted because he does or doesn’t fit society’s standards of beauty. We’re scientists, Michael, we have to be very careful not to allow outside influences to affect our results.“

At this, she checked her watch. “Now, time for one last question, otherwise I’ll be late to check on the animals.”

“Animals? There are animals here?”

“Oh yes, as part of the research we are trying to recreate the original genetic experiments that created alphas and omegas in various species. Right now, it’s mainly mice and rats, but we have had a delivery of beagles too. It’s very exciting.”

Mike felt a pang at this, a rush of solidarity with the poor beagles. That’s all he was now as well, a lab animal. 

“Now, let’s get your blindfold on. Dr Jackson will be here in about 40 minutes to start today’s tests.”

“Wait. I still don’t understand – what is it Dr Jackson is going to do? What do his tests involve?”

“I’m sorry Michael, I thought I’d made it clear. I guess I got carried away – I forget sometimes that not everyone is as interested in the science as I am! Dr Jackson area of specialisation is in the effect that an alpha directly has on an omega. His tests mainly involve seeing how omegas react to various stimuli given them by an alpha and whether their biology, especially their pheromone production, is changed.”

“So he’s going to, what? Torture me and see how I react?”

“Michael do calm down. I’ve already warned you not to be melodramatic. This is important scientific research. You wouldn’t call the tests we do on the rats and mice down the hallway torture, would you? This is no different. And think of the advances we can make! You’re going to be a part of something historic, Michael. Alpha and omega relations won’t be the same ever again. And just think, once Dr Jackson has claimed you, you’ll be able to say that your alpha is someone who changed the world.“


	5. Chapter 5

“Michael, you’re overreacting. I don’t see why you’re so upset about this. You’re not being at all rational.”

Mike gaped at her. “You don’t see why I’d be upset about being claimed? You think I’m not being rational in not wanting some man I’ve never even seen to basically OWN me?”

“No, I don’t. And watch your tone with me, young man, I won’t have you raising your voice to me.” She glared at him, daring him to argue. Mike caved first.

“I’m … sorry?”

Alison sniffed, mollified. “That’s better. I suppose I can’t blame you. As you say, you don’t know Dr Jackson. But when you do, you’ll see that this is for the best! I mean, did you plan _never_ to bond?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it in detail!” Which was a lie, but she didn’t need to know what he fantasised about when he was alone.

“There you go then! You could have gone all your life without bonding, and what’s an omega without a bond? Your whole purpose is to bond, it’s what you were made for! And you couldn’t find a better alpha to claim you than Dr Jackson.” 

“Well, it _is_ every omega’s dream to catch a doctor…” Mike’s voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Alison didn’t seem to notice. 

“Exactly! And he isn’t just any doctor! He’s the leading expert in his field. The work he’s done for omega studies is unsurpassed anywhere in the world. In a couple of years’ time I wouldn’t even be surprised if he won the Nobel. He’s a remarkable man.” 

“He’s kidnapping people off the streets to experiment on them!”

Alison sighed, and looked at him pityingly. “Michael, you just don’t understand. You’re not thinking about the good that he is doing here.”

“But…”

“There are no buts. Down the corridor, in worse conditions than you, we have mice and rats and dogs, all being used in experiments for the same purpose as you. Some of them we’ve bred here, some we’ve bought, some we’ve collected from pounds. Animals like them have been central to huge breakthroughs in treating diseases. You think if they cure cancer, people will say ‘oh, but what about the mice that were experimented on?’ You have to see the big picture!”

“So that’s all omegas are? Animals to be experimented on?”

“Don’t be so dramatic. As I’ve already said, you’re treated better than them, aren’t you? Do I keep you in a cage? Have we given you a number rather than a name?” She laughed at this, and ruffled his hair. “Poor Michael. It’s just taking you a bit of time to adjust isn’t it? You’ve not really had time to think about how good this is. Now,” she checked her watch, “I’ve missed my time with the animals, so we might as well get started on the first part of today’s tests. Why don’t you lie down for me?”

Mike recognised that however this was couched, it wasn’t a request, so he lay down on the bed, but sat up with a start when she snapped restraints around his ankles. 

“What are you doing?” He tried to keep the panic out of his voice. 

“Lie back _down_ Michael. This is for your own safety – I don’t want you falling out of bed and hurting yourself while the test is running.”

He lay back down, trying not to let his mind get carried away with what may be about to happen. Alison fixed similar restraints around his wrists, so he was tied firmly to the bed, then walked over to the locked cupboard. 

“Now,” speaking as she unlocked the door and took out a large box of equipment that Mike couldn’t see. “We’ve already taken your hormone levels and I’ve got a blood sample. Right now I want to see your brain waves.”

She turned back to him, holding the blind fold. “I’m sorry Michael, I know you don’t like it, but Dr Jackson will be coming to check up on how this test is going so it’s better to blindfold you now than make him wait when he gets here.”

Mike bit down the urge to ask her how he was going to prevent her, given he was strapped down. He knew his mouth got him into trouble regularly, and in this case he was self-aware enough to realise that arguing with someone who, however misguided, was at least attempting to be nice to him probably wouldn’t do any good. Now, lying tied to the bed and blindfolded, he could hear her bustling around. He felt her fix a couple of pads to his head, which he figured would be wired up to read his brainwaves, but was then surprised to feel another pressed on his thigh. 

He lay there, unable to move, as he felt her stick more of the pads to him, one on his other thigh, one on the sole of each foot, one on each of his upper arms.

“Right, I think that’s all. Now just open your mouth for me…” Mike was too confused to disobey, and felt a mouth-guard pushed in firmly. “There we go, I think that’s everything. Now I’m going to be right here, so there’s no need to worry.”

It hit Mike suddenly what was about to happen, and he started to struggle desperately against his bonds, but the straps were too tight. As the first jolt of electricity hit him, his screams muffled around the mouth-guard, and his body convulsed in agony, he didn't hear the door open and Dr Jackson walk in.

-

“Harvey, I think you’re over-reacting. It’s only been…” Jessica checked her watch, “18 hours since Elizabeth said he left the ORO. And I know it’s not what you want to hear, but he’s not always been the most reliable of people. Don’t think I’m not aware of him vanishing to help that delinquent friend of his in the past. How do you know he hasn’t done that again? Or any one of a half dozen other dumbass things that we both know he’s capable of?”

Harvey grimaced at the reminder about Trevor. “I don’t, but I just have a feeling. I’ve learned to trust my gut in the past, and so have you.”

“You’re going to need more than your gut to go on before you say to the NYPD that you’re concerned because a grown man hasn’t been seen in less than 24 hours.”

“His phone…”

“Harvey, we both know how often he leaves his cell phone lying around. Let it drop. If he’s not surfaced by tomorrow then I’ll reconsider, but right now our priority has got to be whatever the hell is going to go down on Friday. To which end…. Let’s go”

“Go where?” Harvey flashed her a look of annoyance, albeit safely behind her back, as he followed her out of the office. 

“And don’t think I didn’t see that. We’re surrounded by glass, dumbass.”

They turned the corner, and Harvey saw, sitting in the conference room, Louis and Katrina, with _his_ clients, Elizabeth Brandon and Simon Jenkins. 

“Jessica, what the hell?”

“I told you Harvey. I want Louis involved. Don’t even think about arguing with over this. Come on.”

Jenkins stood as they entered, and greeted the two lawyers. “Harvey, Jessica. You know that Elizabeth and I are more than happy to assist in any way that might shed light on what’s happening, but I’m a little confused about what we’re doing here and why your colleague here is so insistent about going through our financials.”

“Simon, Elizabeth. First of all, thank you for coming on such short notice. I can understand that this is all a trying time for you both and the ORO as a whole. I want to reassure you that by Louis looking at your records we are in no way suspecting any wrong doing on your part.” 

Jessica employed her most sincere face and voice combination saying this, and even Harvey, automatically suspicious of any ulterior motive, found himself believing her.

“Mr Jenkins,” Louis interjected, “If I can reassure you on this matter. My aim in examining your financial records is simply to find anything unusual, specifically relating to your recently departed Deputy Director, Andrew Miller. It’s our experience that if a person is being somewhat… _underhand_ in one area, it’s likely that this will carry over into other aspects of their lives.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at Louis. “What you saying, Mr Litt, if I’m understanding you correctly, is that if he’s a devious little shit in his personal dealings, chances are he was screwing us financially as well.”

“Uh, well, I wouldn’t have phrased it exactly like that but…”

Jessica smiled openly at Elizabeth. She had an automatic admiration for a woman who had risen to the top of a large organisation, let alone an omega woman who would have faced double the discrimination in life, even if not in the ORO itself, and she was pleased to find that the woman’s character was also something she could appreciate.

“That’s precisely it, Elizabeth. And of course, if Miller is determined to destroy the ORO then it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to find he’d been doing something less than legal things with your money.”

“It’s the Organisation’s money, Jessica, not mine. But yes, I agree, unfortunately. I trusted him, probably too much. And of course, if it came out that he had swindled the ORO, it wouldn’t be headlines about alphas being crooks, would it? No, the papers would be screaming about omegas being trusting fools.” She sighed. “Go ahead, Mr Litt. I shall inform our accountants that you are to have access to anything you request. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we had better return to the office, while it is still ours to return to at least. Mr Specter, would you be so kind as to walk us to the elevator?”

Harvey stood in surprise as she held her arm out for him to take. “Of course, Elizabeth, it would be my pleasure.”

They walked together slowly down the corridor. “I wanted to ask you if you’ve heard anything from your young associate yet.”

“Not yet, no. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry out though, I have been _reminded_ that there’s almost certainly a perfectly innocent explanation.”

“Say it again, Mr Specter, and you might sound like you believe that.” They had reached the elevator and she turned to face him. 

“The ORO isn’t just about going to corporate fundraisers and gladhanding people to give us money, you know. We look after omega rights at all levels, from lobbying the Senate to going out and finding homeless omegas and getting them a bed and a meal. We run over 200 shelters throughout the States, and fundraising for more as there are never enough beds to go around.”

“I have no doubt that the ORO is an extremely vital …”

She cut him off “Harvey, listen to me. I am not telling you this to … to puff up the ORO. I _know_ how important it is. I am telling you that we hear things. We have people talking to omegas at every level and they do talk. And what we’ve been hearing is that right now it’s not safe being an omega on the streets in New York.”

“You think something’s happened to Mike, don’t you?”

“All I know is that right now, omegas who would previously rather have died of pneumonia than come to a shelter are clammering for beds because they don’t want to be on the streets after dark. There are rumours, Harvey. Rumours of desperate omegas getting into strange cars and never being seen again. Right now, they’re just rumours, we’ve not heard anything concrete.” 

She snorted, delicately. “Rather like our Mr Miller, eh? Nothing concrete, just rumours and whispers. But I’ve learned to trust my instincts in these situations, and if I have you right, you’re the same aren’t you?”

Harvey nodded, unsure for once what to say. 

“I spent a good deal of yesterday with your young man, speaking to our staff and looking for evidence of Andrew’s ‘crimes’. He treated everyone, from my board of directors to the cleaner who empties our bins, with tact and respect. And he treated me like a duchess!”

Harvey laughed at this. “I think it’s fair to say he has a soft spot for women in their older years who say what they mean.” 

“I am a cynical old woman, Harvey. I don’t respond well to flatterers. But I liked your young man. I liked him a lot. You make sure he’s safe, won’t you?” 

She patted his hand, and stepped into the elevator, Simon following silently with a nod of the head.

Harvey stood there motionless, thinking about what she’d said. Finally, he turned back to head into the conference room, pulling out his phone as he walked. 

“Vanessa? I have a job for you.”

-

Mike trembled violently as the electro-shock pads were removed and the restraints unbuckled from his legs. He felt a hand card through his hair, as Alison spoke to him gently.

“Good boy, all done for now. You were such a good boy, I’m so proud of you.” Unconsciously, Mike leaned into her touch, almost desperate for the small kindness. It didn’t last. 

“Thank you Dr Williams. You can get on with your other duties now.” Mike shuddered at the sound of Dr Jackson’s voice, as he lay there helpless, and winced at the loud click of the door shutting. Dr Jackson removed the restraint from his left hand and instead fixed it to the top of the bedframe, by his head, then did the same with his right hand. 

“Now then. I want you to answer me as clearly and concisely as you can. Can you speak?”

Mike tried to swallow, his mouth feeling like sandpaper, but he managed to croak out “Yes”

“Good. Now, yes or no answers please. Have you ever been claimed, or bonded with an alpha in any way?”

“No”

“Have you ever slept with an alpha at all?”

“No”

“Have you ever been penetrated by a man, alpha or beta?”

“No, please…..”

Dr Jackson slapped him hard. “I said yes or no answers.” He paused. “I am not sure I believe you, boy.”

Mike felt his t-shirt being lifted and Jackson’s hands start roaming over his torso.

“I am going to get to know every inch of your body, boy. You belong to me now, every part of you.” 

Mike gave an involuntary cry of pain as Jackson stopped to pinch and twist his nipples hard. 

“I think I need to check if you’re telling the truth.” Jackson pulled Mike’s boxer shorts down and grabbed his ankles, forcing his legs back up towards his head. There must have been a hook above his head that Mike hadn’t noticed, as the next thing he knew his feet were firmly fixed, leaving him totally exposed. He was already terrified, but now he became desperate at what Jackson was about to do, and started to struggle desperately, but there was little give in the bonds on either his wrists or ankles. 

He heard a loud snap, and as he felt Jackson’s hand stroke down the exposed back of his thigh he realised the doctor was now rubber gloves. 

“Now, I would suggest you stop fighting and hold still for me, otherwise this will be more uncomfortable than necessary.”

Even knowing what was coming, Mike’s whole body tensed as he felt the doctor’s finger, thankfully coated with something cold and gloopy, rub over his entrance. The doctor’s other hand came down hard on his buttocks.

“I said don’t tense. You’re only making it more difficult for yourself.”

At this, he pushed his finger in past the tight ring of muscle and pressed until it was right up to his knuckle. Mike gasped at the intrusion, and found it hard to catch his breath. It hurt, but what was worse was how intrusive it felt. He could feel his cheeks burning with humiliation as Jackson’s finger probed him. 

“Well you’re certainly tight enough to be a virgin, aren’t you?” He withdrew his finger and pulled the gloves off with a snap. Reaching up, he unbuckled his feet, and Mike lowered them back to the bed with relief. He tensed again when he felt the doctor grab his leg, but was surprised when Jackson, instead of abusing him further, pulled his boxer shorts back on. 

“No one gets to see you naked but me, boy.”

There was silence for several seconds after this, as Jackson simply allowed his gaze to roam across Mike’s slim body.

“Now, let’s see if I made the right choice with you.”

Mike barely had enough time to wonder what that meant when he felt the bed sink as Dr Jackson climbed up and straddled his torso. He heard the sound of a zipper, unnaturally loud in the silence of the room, and realising instantly what was about to happen he tried to turn his head and clamped his mouth shut. Jackson grabbed his hair and forced his head back, gripping his nose with his other hand to cut off his air. Mike kept his mouth shut as long as he could, but was eventually forced to gasp for breath. Jackson immediately let go of his nose and, grabbing his jaw to keep him from shutting his mouth again, forced his penis in. Mike instantly gagged, but Jackson didn’t let go of his head, instead pulling back until little more than the tip was inside then thrusting in hard again. 

Jackson let go of Mike’s jaw and gripped his head with both hands, fucking his mouth roughly, as he grunted “Your mouth feels so good when you gag.” He forced his cock in as deep as he could ramming it down his throat. Mike fought as long as he could, struggling to breathe against the large obstruction, but he was too weak, and as the doctor’s hands on the back of his head held him tight right up against his crotch, he felt the hot come spurt down his throat and went completely limp, finally giving up consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

Harvey couldn’t remember the last time he felt this angry, and was dealing with it the best way he could when fists were out of the question – he had become very still and was speaking very deliberately. Donna knew her boss well, and was therefore sitting tensely at her desk, poised to leap up and enter the office at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, the two NYPD cops sitting opposite Harvey had apparently been away the day they’d talked about body language at the academy, as they just… kept… going. 

“So let me get this straight gentlemen.” Harvey’s tone was ice. “You think my associate has run away.”

“Mr Specter, trust me, we see this kind of thing all the time, especially with these younger omegas. They think they wanna be like alphas, they wanna have it all these days. Go out and get an education, get a _career_ ”. 

He spat out the word as if it had personally offended him. 

“They want to be _modern_ , and ya know, some do pretty well. But it’s biology, y’know? That little clock starts ticking, and they maybe think ‘hey, p’raps I DO want kids’ and then,” here the cop made a sweeping gesture as if to indicate the whole of Pearson Specter, and Harvey’s corner of it especially, “they realise pretty fast that you can’t have both. I mean, you can’t blame ‘em can you? It’s their, whaddyacallit, genetics.”

The other officer cut in here. “We’ve seen it all before Mr Specter.” He indicated the picture of Mike that Harvey had given him. “He’s a good looking kid, obviously pretty smart for an omega to get a job at a place like him. He wouldn’t be the first to have his head turned by some hotshot alpha and decide maybe he doesn’t have it all after all.”

“And you think he’d meet an alpha and decide to run off in one night? And not even bother to let me know?”

The first cop smirked suggestively. “Well, when the heat grabs ‘em… I mean, you’ve heard the stories right? I bet you have your own tales of hot little omegas getting carried away.”

Harvey stared at him incredulously, and had barely opened his mouth to respond when Donna walked in. 

“Sorry to interrupt but your next appointment is here Mr Specter. If you’re finished I’d be happy to escort these gentlemen out.”

“Thank you Donna. Yes, I think we’re done here. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the full picture now”

The second cop then demonstrated that he shared his colleague’s impressive lack of self-preservation, as he misinterpreted the source of Harvey’s now apparent anger.

“Hey Mr Specter, don’t be too hard on the kid. It’s only been a couple of days so he’s probably still in the middle of his heat. Give him a few days, let him settle in with his new alpha, and I’m sure you’ll hear from him. He may even want his job back to keep him going before he starts his family.” He looked around one last time as they left the office. “It’s obviously a pretty modern thinking place you have here, so go easy on him. Maybe give him a job in the mail room or something, y’know, a bit more appropriate for an omega.” 

“I’ll take that under advisement, officer.”

Donna ushered the two cops out as quickly as she could, leaving Harvey fuming so much she expected to come back and find him with steam coming out of his ears. 

“Donna…”

“Harvey I know. You think that bullshit didn’t upset me? But we both know that’s how some people think.”

“There is no way that Mike just up and left with some alpha he’d never met. I’ve seen omegas in heat - I’ve _been_ with omegas in heat – and all this bullshit about them losing themselves is out of a fucking porn movie. They aren’t animals in rut!”

“Harvey, _I know_. You’re preaching to the choir here. But you need to calm down as the others are in conference room B and we’re late.”

“Shit. OK, tell them I’ll be right there.”

As soon as Donna had left, he picked up his phone.

“Hey Vanessa. Any news? Yeah, I’ve talked to New York’s finest. No, I’ve had more useful meetings. Just keep at it, OK? Money’s no object here.”

He hung up and entered the conference room as a heated discussion was going on. Rachel was speaking, and seemed particularly upset. 

“I don’t know why you won’t even consider it. We’re not getting anywhere right now.”

“Because I don’t put my staff in danger.” Jessica had an edge to her voice, that Harvey knew was a warning, but Rachel was either too distraught to notice or simply didn’t care.

“You’re not putting me in danger, I’m doing it myself. And with respect, Ms Pearson, you can’t order me not to.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes and was about to speak when Harvey interrupted. “Apologies for being late, but can someone clue me in as to what’s going on and why Rachel would be putting herself in danger? I thought one employee in trouble at a time was our maximum?”

Rachel glared at him, obviously furious with his apparent flippantness. Jessica turned to him. 

“It has been suggested that it would be … advantageous for someone to volunteer to help Senator Mitchell’s campaign.”

“You want to spy on them? That’s kind of genius actually.” He turned back to Rachel. “Your idea? I’m impressed. I’ve recently been told that all omegas thought about was sex and breeding, who knew espionage was on the list too?”

“Harvey…” Donna’s voice had the distinctive warning tone she only used when he needed reigning in. 

“So I’m guessing the problem is Jessica doesn’t approve?” He glanced at her for confirmation. 

“It’s possible that I may have been a little… premature in dismissing your concerns about Mr Ross. But whatever has happened to him is beyond my control. This isn’t. I am not going to support any action that would put another member of my staff in any danger. At all.”

“Besides, Rachel is an omega.”

“Harvey!”

“Sorry, Donna, you know I don’t mean it like that. Rachel, I know you’re upset, and I understand. But we couldn’t send an omega undercover with Senator Mitchell, you’d stand out like, well like an omega amongst alphas. It would draw attention, and that would be counter-productive. It’s not about you not being capable, OK? I would trust you with anything I would trust an alpha with in normal conditions.”

This speech was so out of character the entire room stared at him in astonishment. It was Donna who broke the silence. 

“Wow. Those cops definitely got to you, didn’t they? For what it’s worth, I agree with Harvey. You need either a beta or an alpha, preferably one with the dramatic chops to pull it off.”

“No Donna.”

“What? I didn’t specify…”

“You didn’t need to. And the answer is no. I could probably think of about 100 reasons why not, but right now the most pertinent one is Senator Mitchell met you already. And while you may be many things, easy to forget you are not.”

Donna pouted at this. She was obviously deeply concerned about Mike and what was going on, but she wasn’t about to apologise for also being excited at the prospect of being able to do proper under-cover work. 

“I’ll go. I’m an alpha and they’ve not met me.”

The heads of all in the room turned as one to Katrina. She hadn’t spoken before now, and with the other, louder voices in the room, Harvey had forgotten she was there. 

Louis coughed. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t do things I’m not sure of, Louis, you know that. It makes perfectly logical sense. I’m an alpha, so I wouldn’t stand out, none of them will be able to recognise me, and I majored in political science and have experience volunteering on campaigns.”

“If I may interrupt, I still haven’t agreed to any of this. I don’t like the idea of throwing another associate to the wolves.”

“Ms Pearson trust me, I have no intention of putting myself in harm’s way. I am completely confident I can do this without any danger to either myself or any other members of your staff.”

Jessica sighed. “Alright then. If it’s OK with Louis, then go ahead. But if there’s any, and I mean ANY, sign of things going south, you get out of there. Louis?”

“I have full faith in Katrina’s ability. She’s learned from the best, after all.”

Harvey showed impressive restraint in doing nothing more than snorting at this, which he turned into a cough. Jessica glared at him, then turned back to Louis. 

“In the meantime, Louis, I take it you haven’t found anything in the ORO’s finances yet?”

“It’s so squeaky clean I feel like they must be up to something, but if they are I haven’t found it yet.”

“In that case, I want you to try a different tactic. Look at the Senator’s finances instead. I know you won’t be able to get to all of it, but anything that is publicly available I want you to go through with a fine tooth comb.”

“Consider it done”.

“In that case, I think we’re done here.” As they filed out, Jessica called out “Harvey, spare me one more minute?”

He shut the door and sat by her. “Jessica?”

“How are you holding up?”

“Me? I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Off her look, he sighed. “I’ve always considered myself as someone who notices things. But I never noticed how bad they had it.”

She considered him for a minute. “Harvey, do you know how many omegas there are in the US?”

“I’ve never considered it. I guess it’s about a third of the population, so what, about 100 million”

“Elizabeth told me it’s closer to 20 million.”

“Wait, really?”

“I was surprised too, but think about it. How often do you come by them, in every day life? Look at us here – I pride myself on having one of the most inclusive policies of all the law firm’s in New York, and how many omegas do you know working here?”

Harvey paused, thinking. “Apart from Mike and Rachel… There’s another paralegal, isn’t there? Richard something. And maybe someone in IT?”

“We think there’s a lot of them because of the romance of it. Alphas and omegas, people who are meant to be together. It’s a fairy tale. So TV shows and movies and, yes, porn are filled with them because it’s so much more interesting than boring old betas, isn’t it?”

Harvey considered this, silently.

“What I’m saying, Harvey, is don’t beat yourself up over what you haven’t noticed. We all see the story, not the reality. As soon as you start thinking of Mike as an omega you’ll start wondering about you may have missed, but you _know_ him. It’s just Mike, the same person he’s always been. 

She stood up. “This doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own thinking to do for when this is all over. I intend to make sure this firm isn’t just inclusive, it’s a goddamn role model for working omegas.”

“How did I luck out with getting a boss as wise as you?”

“I’d say karma, but we both know with you that can’t be the case.”

She kissed his cheek. “Try not to worry Harvey. We’ll find your boy and get him back to you.”

Harvey sat there alone, considering her words. As he pondered what she’d said, he realised Jessica was the third person that week to call Mike ‘his boy’. It sounded right to him. 

-

Dr Williams looked around Mike’s room in surprise when she didn’t see him in his usual spot on the bed. 

“Mike, are you in the bathroom? It’s time for your tests…”

She pushed at the bathroom door and sighed, softly, at the sight that greeted her. Mike was sitting on the floor by the toilet, a glass of water by his side. He looked up at her, groggily. 

“Oh honey, you not feeling well?” She reached down and felt his forehead. “It doesn’t feel hot, but let’s not take any chances, alright? How about we get you up and into bed, eh?”

She crouched down beside him and helped him rise to his feet. He was very unsteady, and didn’t seem to entirely know what was happening. She managed to get him up onto the bed, then reached for a thermometer. 

“Can you remember if Doctor Jackson gave you anything? A pill, an injection…?”

Mike started trembling at the doctor’s name, so she stroked his arm, soothing him. “It’s OK, sweetie. It doesn’t matter. Here, take a sip of this water, then pop this in your mouth for me.” 

As she reached over to slip the glass tube into his mouth, she saw the bruises around his throat and on his jawline and frowned. He was still trembling, so she thought quickly of ways to distract him.

“Oh, this may interest you. I know you wanted to hear about any test results so you felt a bit more part of it all, and we’ve had some fascinating results from the tests we did on your reaction to the electroshock treatment! It turns out that when you suffer pain or distress, your pheromone production increases considerably. It’s amazing – I know some omega research scientists have hypothesised this response before, but they’ve never been able to recreate the effect in laboratory conditions!”

Mike turned and looked up at her, hearing the unspoken words; it had previously been impossible to recreate the results as no lab would get funding for the torture it would involve. Or so he would have thought before now.

Alison smiled as he turned to her, interpreting it as interest in the results. “It’s such an exciting breakthrough. I may even write a paper on it! My theory is that omegas developed this ability as a sort of protection. If they’re in danger or in pain, the increased production of pheromones will hopefully attract an alpha who can come and save them! It’s such a beautiful, symbiotic relationship! It will need further testing of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we found that the more danger the omega is in, the more pheromones are produced and the further they carry.”

She took out the thermometer and frowned. “You’re a little bit warm, but it’s not too bad.” The doctor considered him closely, especially noticing how dull his normally bright blue eyes were. He also hadn’t spoken since she’d entered the room, which was unlike him. 

“I think you need a little rest. We still need to do some tests, but I have just the thing. I’ll be right back – don’t go anywhere!” She laughed to herself as she left the room. 

Mike didn’t move from where he was sitting; he was thinking about what she’d just told him. To her, it was simple – the increased pheromones were self defence – and maybe that’s how it had evolved. But Mike knew it had very different repercussions. What he’d learned from the test results was very different from what Dr Williams had – he’d learned that, to alphas, omegas smell, and probably taste, better when they’re frightened and in pain. He had no doubt that if she did her further testing she’d find that the worse the pain, the sweeter the alpha would find them. And maybe that would encourage some alphas’ protectiveness to come through, but when left in the hands of people like Dr Jackson….

He realised he was shaking again, and tried to get control of himself. Panicking wouldn’t help, and neither would dwelling on what Jackson had done to him the night before. He had to try and put it out of his head, but, not for the first time, he cursed his perfect memory. Forgetting would not be easy, even if he didn’t know that it would certainly be happening again. 

He was jolted out this line of thinking by Alison’s return. Instead of the expected box of ‘medical equipment’, she had a pad and some paper. Perching on the bed beside him, she handed him the pad. 

“As you’re not feeling at your best, I’ve got a different kind of test for you. This is a basic IQ test, nothing to be worried about. I don’t expect you to get everything right, especially as you’re not yourself today, just do the best you can, OK?”

Mike had a sudden feeling of warmth towards her. She was obviously trying to do the best she could for him – it wasn’t her fault that this involved what, to Mike, was torture. She simply didn’t understand. It hit him suddenly that this must be how she thought of him, as a misguided soul who just didn’t know what was best. He bit down the sudden urge to laugh at the irony of the situation, and instead whispered “Thank you”. His throat hurt, but he didn’t want to examine the reasons for that too closely. 

She smiled widely at him. “There’s the good boy I know. I’ll pop back in a couple of hours and get that from you. There’s plenty of water there if you need it, but if you feel really sick just press the call button.” She indicated a small red button to the left of the bed that Mike hadn’t noticed before. 

“I’ll be fine. I’m just tired I think. Thank you for the test.”

She patted his hand, then rose from her perch and left the room, leaving Mike to consider the test. He flipped through it quickly, and it became immediately apparent that he could easily answer it all, but something told him that this wouldn’t be the best plan. Right now, Dr Williams obviously thought he was sweet but not particularly clever. He didn’t know what Dr Jackson thought, but he considered it likely he was the same; he’d certainly not given him any indication of being above average intelligence during his visits. He turned back to the front page, and started the test, taking care to get at least a third of the answers wrong. 

-

“Harvey, have you got time for a catch up? I have news.”

“Go ahead Vanessa, I’m all yours. What have you found out?” Harvey beckoned Donna into the office, and as she sat down he put his phone on speaker. 

“Nothing good I’m afraid. Nobody wanted to talk to me about it, but it seems there’s been a spate of unsolved omega killings over the last eighteen months or so.”

“Well shit. Is there anything that might tie them in with Mike’s disappearance?”

“There’s nothing concrete but…”

“Go on Vanessa.” He’d long ago learned to trust her judgment when it came to things like this. 

“OK. Well, over the last year and a half there have been seven omegas found murdered in New York, all dumped naked in abandoned buildings with a strange bar code branded on their arm.”

“A bar code? What the hell?”

“My source has no idea, they’ve not been able to crack whatever code they contain.”

“Do we know anything about the victims?”

“Not yet, I’m working on it. Can you send me any more info about Mike that I could use to maybe tie him in? Or better, exclude him?”

“I’ll send you everything I have, but there’s not much to know. He has no family.” 

“It’s a start. Thank you Vanessa.”

“Don’t worry about it Harvey. This has my full attention, you know that.”

As he disconnected the call, he turned to Donna. 

“Get Det. Taylor on the phone. He owes me, and I think it’s time to cash in.”


	7. Chapter 7

Even deliberately getting questions wrong, it hadn’t taken Mike long to finish the tests; Alison had returned after a couple of hours and sat and marked them in the room, smiling proudly at him when she’d done. 

“Well, you got a solid 64%. That’s really good Michael, I’m very impressed, especially as you weren’t feeling at your best! I bet if you studied we could get you over 70%. And some people say omegas naturally aren’t very bright!”

Mike managed to force a smile at her which he hoped she’d interpret as being pleased at her words. Inside though he felt a weird combination of anger at the stupid assumptions ‘some people’ made about omegas (clearly including Dr Williams herself) and guilt at lying to her. He forced this feeling down – it was totally irrational and he knew it. Considering what they were doing to him, lying about _anything_ was nothing to feel guilty about, let alone something like this. But he still had that nagging feeling that he’d done something wrong – Alison may be hopelessly deluded about what was good for him, but he could tell she was trying. He just needed to remember that she wasn’t just clueless, she was actively colluding in his capture and torture, and didn’t deserve any kind of consideration. 

“So, are you feeling a little better now, Michael?”

“Yes, thank you, a little.”

She studied his face, looking for any sign that he was sick. 

“OK, I have an idea, but you have to promise me you’ll be a good boy and behave.”

Mike frowned at her, worried about where this was going. 

“I know you hate the blindfold, although I’m sure I don’t really understand why. It’s not like there’s a lot to look at in here! I’d be grateful for some quiet thinking time if it were me, give me a break from the constant go go go of this place! Anyway, I get that you don’t like it. Dr Jackson is going to be along in about an hour, and by rights I should put it on you now and restrain you, but if you promise to behave, I’ll leave the blindfold here instead. When Dr Jackson gets here, he’ll tell you through the intercom to put it on, and then come in and restrain you for whatever tests he’s due to do today. But you have to promise me you’ll be a good boy and put the blindfold on when he asks.”

Mike’s mind started whirling at roughly 500 miles an hour at this. If he wasn’t restrained, could this be his chance to escape? He knew Jackson was strong, but maybe he wouldn’t be expecting him to fight back. And even if he failed, he would get to see who his captor was… He nodded eagerly. 

“Alright then. But you’ve made me a promise, Michael. If he tells me later that you were naughty and didn’t do what you were told I’ll be very disappointed in you, and I won’t be in a hurry to give you any concessions again. Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am.”

She smiled and patted his hand. “That’s my good boy. I’ll see you later when I’m on my rounds.”

She shut the door behind her, leaving Mike to start plotting his escape. 

-

“Harvey, you should go home. It’s late, there’s nothing you can do right now.”

Harvey was sitting behind his desk, sipping on a very large scotch as he looked out over the city. “Thanks for your concern Donna, and you’re absolutely right.”

She blinked at him, genuinely surprised for once. “I am?”

“There’s nothing I can do because I’m not fucking doing anything, am I?” He stood up angrily and gestured towards the door. “Out there, Louis is looking into their financials, Katrina is doing who the hell knows what undercover, Rachel is going through every newspaper story about the Senator that’s ever been published…. Even Jessica is out pressing the flesh with every political heavyweight she knows trying to get information. And what am I doing?”

“Harvey…”

“I’m doing nothing Donna. Nothing. He’s mi…he’s my associate. He’s my responsibility. I should be the one trying to find him. I should have been the one protecting him.”

“You’ve hired Vanessa, she always comes up with something. And when Det. Taylor gets back to you…”

“That’s not ME, Donna. That’s just… people I know. I SHOULD BE OUT THERE.” He was shouting now, as angry as Donna had ever seen him. 

“Doing what? Huh? Walking the streets with a picture of him, asking if they’ve seen him, as if he’s a lost dog?”

“No…”

“Then what, Harvey? What would you be doing, ‘out there’? That’s not your job. It’s not your territory. Leave that to Vanessa and the NYPD. You’re a lawyer. This is what we do. We will go through every little thing they have ever done. If they bent the law even a little bit, let alone broke it, we will find it and we will get them. But you won’t be any good to Mike if you’re a wreck when we find him.”

He stared at, lost for words for a change. He knew she was right, but still had the strong urge to argue – as much as he was sure of anything, he was sure he should be out there doing something to find Mike. 

“I just can’t stand the thought that we’re in here, doing _nothing_ , while he’s god knows where, suffering god knows what…”

“Goddammit Harvey, do you think you’re the only one who cares? What am I saying, of course you do, because everything is about _you_. Well let me tell you something…”

“Knock knock. Am I interrupting?” 

Harvey immediately smoothed his features into a careful blank as he turned to the door. 

“Not at all Elliott, my assistant was just saying goodbye as she’s leaving for the night. Donna, this is Det. Elliott Taylor, NYPD.”

The Detective grinned at her. “Absolutely charmed. It’s a wonder that Harvey gets any work done here, I know what he’s like around beautiful women.”

“Oh, he doesn’t. I do it all. Nice to meet you Detective. Maybe you can convince Harvey not to go knocking on doors. I’m going home to apparently not give a shit.”

At that, Donna grabbed her bag and stalked off to the elevators, anger practically radiating off her.

“Oops. Guess I did interrupt something after all.”

“Don’t worry about it. Have a seat, and then you can tell me all about these unsolved omega murders.”

Elliott frowned. “Harvey, I’ve come over as a friend, because we go way back. But I honestly don’t know what there is to tell. The clue is in the ‘unsolved’, and despite what people think about the NYPD’s attitude towards omegas, I can tell you it’s not for want of trying.”

“Well you’ll forgive me if I’m less than convinced, as my recent dealings with New York’s _finest_ ,” the word came out sounding like the worst cuss word he could think of, “has left me with the distinct impression that they couldn’t find their asses with both hands and a street map.”

“I’m not saying there aren’t bad apples. As an institution, we can be a little… old fashioned about things. But this is my case, and if you can’t trust the NYPD you can at least trust me. So you tell me first why you want to know about it, and then I’ll tell you what I know. Deal?”

Harvey poured himself a new glass of scotch and handed Elliott a second one. “I’m assuming you’re here off duty?”

The detective took the proffered glass, which Harvey took as assent. He sighed, and sat down again. 

“My associate is an omega. He disappeared 2 days ago, no sign of him since. Your colleagues seem to think he’s run off with the first alpha to bat their eyes at him, but I know him. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t just disappear without tell me.”

“Even if he was in trouble? Forget the omega thing for a second. People do get in trouble – trust me, I know.”

Harvey bit back the retort on his tongue and instead considered. It wasn’t as though he could say, with a clear conscience, that it was impossible for Mike to be in trouble of a different sort. He sighed. 

“He’s had some issues in the past, but not recently. And I’m pretty sure, no, I _know_ that I’ve taught him to come to me if he needs help. He wouldn’t just disappear. Even if he did something impulsive, he’d let me know after. He’d know I’d be there to bail him out, like I always do.” He tailed off, lost in thought, then shook his head, as if to clear it. “Besides, he loves this job. He’s worked hard to get it and keep it. We’re in the middle of a major case, he wouldn’t just abandon it.”

Elliott considered this for a minute, and finally nodded. “Alright Harvey, if you say he’s not run off I’ll believe you. You’ve always been a better judge of people than me. Well, mostly…”

“If you even think of mentioning Cameron…”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Anyway. You sure you wanna hear about these omegas? It’s not exactly pleasant.”

“I need to know if there’s anything at all that might tie Mike in. If he’s been …..”Harvey couldn’t bring himself to say the word. “If anything’s happened to him. Please.”

“In that case, I’ll tell you what I know, but as I said, it’s not much. Over the past 18 or so months there have been seven known victims.”

“Known?”

“We know for sure that these seven are connected, but … dead omegas don’t make as much news as maybe they should. It’s possible some didn’t come to our attention for whatever reason. And we can’t ignore the possibility there might be others out of state. “

Harvey motioned for him to go on. 

“So seven for definite. Four men, three women, all omegas, obviously. They were each found naked, dumped in various back alleys all over the state, no obvious pattern. No evidence at all found with the bodies, no dna, no personal items, nothing.”

“How can you be sure they’re all the same guy?”

The detective winced, obviously uncomfortable. “They all had one distinguishing feature in common. All had a large burn on the inside of their wrist.”

“A burn?”

“A branding, to be exact. They’d been branded, with a very specific mark.”

“The barcode.”

Elliott looked at him in surprise. “Something tells me you’ve been doing some investigating of your own. If you don’t need me….”

“No, please. You know I have my … sources, but they couldn’t find much out. She said you couldn’t crack the code.”

“We tried scanning them, obviously, but the problem with barcodes is you need to know the code. Right now it’s like we have the key but not the lock.”

“What else?”

“In general, they didn’t seem to be in too bad condition – “

“Apart from being branded and dead!”

“Harvey, please. You wanted to know.”

Harvey wiped his hand across his face. “I’m sorry. Go on.”

“There was evidence of some sort of restraints being used, some bruising around their hands and ankles, but not too severe. At least one of the males and two of the females had bruises around their throats and collarbones, some of which were obviously older than others. And there was evidence of at least five of them having been sexually abused, one severely enough for it to have maybe contributed to cause of death.”

Harvey felt sick. He couldn’t bear to hear any more, but knew he had to find out everything the detective could tell him. 

“Jesus…. Wait – some of the bruises were older? How much older?”

“Again, it’s difficult to tell post mortem but possibly several weeks.”

“They were kidnapped and held? And then, what, dumped when he was bored?”

“It looks possible that they were held for some time, yes. Why he got rid of each when he did is something we don’t know.”

“Was there any link between the victims that you could find?”

Elliott leaned over and held his glass out for Harvey to refill, gulping down the contents way too quickly, although Harvey, for once, wasn’t about to judge him for that. 

“Nothing concrete, except they all seem to have been chosen specifically as people who maybe wouldn’t be missed, at least at first. Four of them were itinerants, recognised around their neighbourhoods but not enough for anyone to notice if they weren’t there, if you get me. One was a college student with no immediate family – when she stopped turning up to class they just assumed she’d found it too hard and dropped out.” He shook his head. “No one is surprised when an omega drops out of class. It’s not what they’re for, right?” He sighed. “Trust me, Harvey, I’ve heard it all.”

“What about the other two?”

“One was an IT worker over at Columbia. His colleagues told me he’d been planning a cruise with some money he’d inherited, and had just assumed he’d gone. The last one we haven’t managed to ID. She’s a young girl, about 17 or 18, and chances are a runaway come to New York to seek her ‘fortune’. Poor kid“

"So the only connection is no one was there to give a shit if they weren’t seen again.”

Elliott spread his hands, as if to say ‘what are you gonna do?’. “Does that sound like your associate?”

“He didn’t…” Harvey caught himself, “I mean doesn’t have any family. He was raised by his grandmother, and she died recently. But that doesn’t mean no one would miss him.” The detective met Harvey’s gaze and both men understood what wasn’t spoken.

“But…” Elliott started slowly, as if tasting the way the words felt, “An outsider looking in might not see that. They might see a young man, with no family, in a very tough job, working very long hours. They might think it was worth the risk that people would just assume he’d burnt out….”

“Or run off with an alpha” Harvey growled bitterly. 

“Perhaps. Have you got a recent picture? I can ask around, see what I can do.”

Harvey reached into his desk for a photo he’d already printed off and gave it to Elliott, who frowned at it. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just… the other victims were all fair with blue eyes. Slight builds, though that’s usual for omegas of course.”

“So he fits the type. This isn’t making me feel any better Elliott.”

“Sorry Harvey, but I didn’t come to make you feel better you know. The best I can offer you is that none of them were killed immediately, so it’s likely that wherever he is, your boy is still alive.”

“And maybe being tortured and assaulted…”

“But alive, Harvey. That’s the main thing.”

“Wait, you didn’t say – what did the others die of?”

Elliott sighed again. “No, I didn’t say. Damn lawyers, always noticing the details. According to toxicology, they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“What? Like, the guy who’s doing this has a faulty gas boiler or something?”

“All of them had been given a massive dose. My guy said he’d never seen anything like it out of a lab. Harvey… he said he’d seen similar back in his college days when he worked at an animal testing laboratory. It’s what they used on the animals they no longer needed. The ones they were putting to sleep.”


	8. Chapter 8

Harvey stalked down the alley, ignoring the NYPD officer calling to him to wait. He could see Det. Taylor talking to another cop, not looking in his direction, so he ducked under the police tape and headed towards the garbage cans and bags that were heaped there. 

“Harvey, stop. You don’t want to go down there. You don’t want to see…”

“I need to see if it’s him.” His voice was sure, but his feet stopped moving forwards. He could see a bare leg, sticking out from under the blanket that had been temporarily thrown over the … he couldn’t bring himself to think the word ‘body’. It was a person. 

Reaching down, he took hold of the corner of the blanket and stopped, holding it right at the tip between two fingers as if he couldn’t bear to be in contact with it. 

“Harvey, are you sure you want to do this?”

“It’s the easiest way to ID him. You don’t want another John Doe on your hands.”

He took a deep breath, and pulled back the blanket in one quick movement. Mike’s face looked like porcelain in the moonlight; there were no marks on it to suggest any trauma. He could be sleeping, but Harvey’s fingertips, brushing against the pale cheek, found only coldness. 

“It’s him.”

Staring down at his face, Harvey found all he could think about were Mike’s eyes. They had been so blue, and now… 

They snapped open, looking right into Harvey’s own. “Aw, Harvey. I thought you were against having emotions!” 

-

Harvey jerked awake with a start. He was lying on the couch in his office, covered in sweat. 

“Shit.”

He glared at the empty bottle of scotch as if it was only pretending to be finished to spite him personally. He couldn’t have finished it, it was only… when did it get to be 3am? Elliott had only left an hour ago, hadn’t he? But then he’d decided to have one more, to drown out the images that the detective had put in his head. That had worked well, hadn’t it?

He wiped a hand across his face and stood up with an effort of will that would have been more impressive if he hadn’t had to grip the arm of the chair to stop himself falling over his own feet. Staggering to the water cooler to get some water, he tried to force himself into sobriety through sheer determination. It wasn’t working. 

“Shit.” He drained a glass of water and refilled it again. Being hung over tomorrow – or rather, later today – wasn’t going to help. Neither was looking like a tramp; grimacing, he realised he stank of sweat and scotch. Well, sleep clearly wasn’t going to be a good idea any time soon, so he might as well head home for a change of clothes and a shower. As long as he didn’t close his eyes, he wouldn’t see Mike’s open. It would be fine. 

-

Mike’s eyes were currently staring at the door of his room, waiting for it to open. He’d failed to find anything that might give him the upper hand against Doctor Jackson; there was little in the room to begin with, and anything even slightly sharp or weapon like was locked away in the cupboard. AS for what was left… Mike liked to believe that he could think on his feet, but he had to accept that even he couldn’t do much with a bed sheet and a toilet roll. 

Instead, his current plan was fixed on the element of surprise. Step one, surprise the doctor by not being blindfolded and over power him. Simple, obviously. The doctor was an alpha, and technically stronger than Mike, especially as he wasn’t exactly in the best of conditions at the moment, but hey, surprise is all, right? Step two, get out the room. Step three, escape the lab. Step four, find Harvey, who would fix everything. He had a nagging feeling that steps two and three wouldn’t be all that simple, but he was at least confident with step four. Now he just had to wait….

He tensed as he heard footsteps in the corridor, coming to a stop outside his door. 

“Michael, put on your blindfold. I believe you made a promise to Doctor Williams.”

Mike was genuinely impressed. Usually with his plans he managed to get to stage two or even three before things fell apart; this one hadn’t even got to stage one. He’d known about the intercom, obviously, as Jackson had talked to him through it before, but he mentally slapped himself for not considering that there would also be a monitor. Of course they’d be watching him. How could he be so stupid?

He picked up the blindfold, and paused. Since he’d been captured, he’d been, if not obedient, then at least relatively compliant. He’d been scared and confused and hadn’t had much of a choice but to do what they said. Now he could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him, the frustration of his plan’s failure due, frankly, to his own lack of foresight tipped him over the edge. 

“No. I won’t. Why can’t I see what you look like?”

“Michael, I understand that Dr Williams has already explained the terms of the experiment to you. I _know_ that I have already explained that I don’t like to be kept waiting. I suggest you put that blindfold on now. I don’t want to have to treat you as a difficult patient but I will if that’s what it takes.”

“I’m not ANY kind of patient! I’m your victim! Your… kidnappee, or whatever the fuck you call it. I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be experimented on like an animal. I want to go home.” Mike’s voice cracked, and he felt himself burn with humiliation at how pathetic he must sound. There was silence for a minute from the intercom.

“You have one last chance, which is frankly uncharacteristically generous of me. Are you going to stop throwing a tantrum and put your blindfold on?”

Mike’s response was barely more than a whisper. “No.”

“Very well then. I shall fetch the orderlies.”

The intercom cut out again. In the silence that followed, Mike began to wonder if he’d made a horrible mistake in antagonizing his captor. But he’d been tortured and sexually assaulted already. There was only so much they could do him, right? He could feel his panic rising, and tried to squash it down, knowing that it wouldn’t help him deal with whatever came through that door. 

It was barely thirty seconds later when the door opened and Mike found himself staring into what looked at first glance like two members of the Olympic wrestling team dressed in scrubs. Mike’s brain decided they reminded him of those huge dogs he saw sometimes in Central Park, with massive teeth that meant they couldn’t shut their mouths properly. They always seemed to be called Butch, or Spike. Yep, Mike thought – brain was definitely panicking now. 

“Someone’s being a bad boy huh?”

Mike shrank back against the wall behind his bed, and swallowed. “Um… I didn’t mean….”

He was cut off by a large hand grabbing his hair and slamming his head back into the wall. The room spun; he felt his ankles being grabbed and felt himself being yanked down the bed so he was lying down. The orderly who had hit him, (‘Butch’, Mike’s confused, spinning brain supplied), climbed on to the bed beside him, knelt on his arm, and reached over to strap the opposite wrist in to the restraint on the metal railing of the bed. Jumping down, he did the same with the other wrist, as ‘Spike’ did the same with his ankles. When he was completely tied down, Butch fixed the blindfold on tight. 

“There you go, all set for Doctor Jackson now. You better hope his mood has improved in the last couple minutes – I don’t wanna be having to wash this room down again to clean ya insides off the floor.”

As he heard the door shut, Mike’s breath started getting quicker, and he realised he was hyperventilating. Desperately trying to calm himself down, he found himself repeating one word like a mantra in his head – “Harvey, Harvey, Harvey…” and he felt himself starting to calm down. 

The door opened again, and he fought every instinct he had to tense up again. He had to at least try to stay calm. It didn’t last long. 

“I hope now you understand that I am not willing to tolerate disobedience. You have wasted my time, and the time of the orderlies, who have other duties to perform rather than have to come running to deal with your histrionics. I don’t know what you were hoping to achieve with this little display, but all you have done is annoy me.”

Mike shivered. He had a feeling that when Jackson used words like ‘annoy’ he really meant ‘made livid’. 

“I thought that I’d already made clear to you that my time is precious, but apparently you haven’t been listening. I think maybe we have been too lenient with you. The fact that you say you want to go home shows that you haven’t understood what we have been telling you. Perhaps that is our fault; I forget sometimes I am speaking to an omega and need to adjust my language accordingly. So let me make this absolutely clear. There is no home but here now. This is your home.”

Jackson stroked Mike’s head, running his hand through his hair. 

“And yet, you’d still run, wouldn’t you? If I let you up off that bed and opened the door, you’d be off. So I think a lesson is in order, one that is in more _appropriate_ language for an omega to understand.”

In the long silence that followed, Mike lay perfectly still, willing himself unsuccessfully to stop trembling. He heard the cupboard being unlocked, and felt the bed sink by his feet as Jackson sat down. 

“This is an old method, used by alphas in the past who had less than obedient omegas. After the first time an omega ran away, he would be chained up, given freedom of only a few metres at best. I think we should have done that at the start so you knew your place; that was our error.”

Mike felt the leather restraint on his left ankle being removed and replaced with cold metal. 

“This will be attached to the bed until you learn to be behaved. It has a long enough chain that you can still go anywhere in this room and the bathroom that you need to, but it won’t reach out the door. That’s more than fair, don’t you think? Answer me, Michael.”

“Yes sir.” His voice was barely more than a whisper 

“Now, we still need to consider your punishment for tonight. Not only did you waste my time, you lied to Dr Williams. I believe she’s very upset about that.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset her…”

“Yet you still need to be punished. I cannot have you being dishonest and disobedient. Tell me Michael, do you know what they used to do to omegas who ran for a second time? If they were trusted enough to have their chains removed, yet abused that trust to try to escape again?”

While talking, the doctor was undoing the restraint on Mike’s other ankle, holding his leg up. 

“No sir…. “

“It’s a very sensible solution. They simply made sure they couldn’t run.” 

As the scalpel Jackson was holding was sliced across the sole of his foot, Mike’s scream echoed around the room. 

-

“I don’t think I’ve ever been here at 6am before. It’s kind of creepy.”

“When you work for Harvey, 6am isn’t that unusual. I’ll be glad when I’ve had a chance to get some coffee though.”

Rachel nodded, already out of small talk. She knew Donna was also trying not to mention the reason they were both there at such an obscene hour and was grateful for it. 

“I know I could really use about 5 shots of espresso right now.” Rachel yawned as the women walked down the corridor towards Harvey’s office. Turning the corner, they stopped dead at the sight at that greeted them – Harvey, sitting at Donna’s desk, a large coffee in front of him. 

“I’ll speak to you later Donna. Let me know if anything comes up.” Rachel’s legs couldn’t take her away fast enough without almost breaking into a run. 

“Coffee? I’ve already had two this morning so you should probably take this one.”

Harvey stood and handed her the drink, then turned and headed into his office. Donna followed, shutting the door behind her. She sat down primly on the couch, sipping her coffee, and waited. 

“I’m sorry, Donna.”

“For what?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “You’re not going to take it easy on me, are you?”

“Is there a reason I should?”

“Probably not.” He sighed. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’m sorry for forgetting that I’m not the only one worried about Mike. I’m … sorry for thinking that everything’s about me. As usual.”

“Apology accepted. Now, are you going to tell me what the cute detective told you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Harvey, for god’s sake. What have we just been talking about?”

He held up his hand to stop her. “Donna, listen to me. When I asked him, he told me that I didn’t want to know. That it wouldn’t help. Maybe he was right, maybe not, but last night… every time I shut my eyes all I could see was Mike. Dead.” He paused, trying to gauge her reaction, but she stayed sitting, staring at the coffee in her hands.

“Like I say, I don’t know whether it will help me knowing… what I know. But I do know that it won’t help you. And I don’t want you seeing him dead as well. One of us has to be able to think of him as still alive.”

Donna finally looked up at him. “And do you think he is? Alive?”

“Elliott thinks so.” Harvey turned away, not wanting her to read on his face what he wasn’t saying, that Mike might be better off dead than where he was.

“Well. That’s good then.” She stood up, suddenly. “Because tomorrow Senator Mitchell makes his address, and as we don’t have a lot of time to find out what the hell is going on I suggest we get back to it.” She headed back to her desk. Only someone who knew her as well as Harvey did saw the slightest pause as she reached it, leaning against it for a second.

He stared at his desk, at the files piled up on it, and tried to remember why he thought they were important. None of it mattered while Mike was missing. He still didn’t know why he was so badly affected by the younger man’s disappearance, but he couldn’t deny it. He kept replaying Monday’s events over and over in his head, desperately hoping to find a clue that he’d previously overlooked, some sign that Mike had simply gone off somewhere without telling him. 

His reverie was broken by Donna sticking her head round the door. 

“Louis has forwarded a voicemail from Katrina for you.”

He switched to speaker and beckoned her in, knowing if there was information she’d want to hear it. 

“Louis, it’s Katrina. I can’t talk for long as I’m on a cigarette break and if I take too long they might realise I don’t smoke. I don’t really have much I can tell you. It’s been no problem getting in here. They seem to be more surprised that any alpha _wouldn’t_ want to support them than to question why I would. I’ve been answering calls from donors, mostly the usual whackjobs who believe omegas are getting above their station, taking jobs that should go to betas and alphas, you know the type. There are a couple of higher profile donors we should look at, so I’ve texted you their details. The Senator himself seems, well, he seems kind of normal. Typical Southern gentleman, all ‘ma’am’ and shucks. I don’t think he’s a George W. though. I get the impression he’s a very smart guy who’s decided it’s better not to seem too smart. He spends most of his time with Miller, so I’ve not seen too much of him. The only weird thing is there have been a lot of calls to his doctor. I’m going to cross check to see if there are any doctors among the big donors, but I wonder if there’s a health issue we don’t know about? If there’s any way to check it might be a good idea. Anyway, I’ve gotta go, I’ll call if I get anymore info.”

“Calls to his doctor. You think he could be sick?”

“Maybe, especially if it’s serious. They definitely wouldn’t want the press finding out right before an election. But if that’s the case, why step into the spotlight at all?” Harvey drummed his fingers on the table. “Is Louis in yet?”

“I saw an associate run past in tears just now, so I’d say yes.”

“Good. Let’s see if his financials have any evidence of large payments for medical bills.”

Harvey stood, and headed out the door towards Louis’ office, feeling suddenly lighter. It might not be much, but at least it was a start, and more importantly, gave him something concrete to focus on. 

-

Mike woke to feel hands on his feet again, but this time they were soft and soothing. He cracked open his eyes, and saw Alison sitting at the end of the bed, washing the blood off his feet with a warm, wet cloth. 

“Doctor Jackson said you passed out on him.”

Mike couldn’t remember much past the first cut, but it seemed more than likely given the pain and the possibility of concussion from the blow to his head.

Having finished cleaning his wounds, Dr Williams started bandaging them. “These are going to be pretty painful to walk on for a while. I’d suggest keeping off them as much as possible, you don’t want to reopen the wounds and make them bleed.”

She looked over at him, waiting for a response, but Mike just turned his head towards the wall. Whatever fight he’d had in him the previous night had vanished, bled out through the soles of his feet. 

“I was very upset when I found out you’d lied to me. You know you shouldn’t have done that, right?” She paused again, but when there was still no response she carried on. “I promised you the first time we met that I wouldn’t lie to you. I thought you’d repay me with the same courtesy.”

She bit her lip. It wasn’t normal for Mike to be like this, simply lying there compliant and unspeaking. 

“Please Michael, say something to me. I know you’re a little sore right now, and trust me, I understand that the orderlies can be intimidating, but you’re worrying me now. Where’s that sweet friendly boy I’ve been getting to know?”

Mike couldn’t bear this. He wanted to shake her till the delusion she was under finally broke and she realised what was going on here, but he also wanted to apologise for lying to her. Most of all, though, he just wanted it all to stop. He wanted her to finish and leave.

“I have an idea. I’ll be back in five minutes, OK? Don’t go…” She broke off, remember the newly attached chain that linked him to the bed. “Just stay put, OK?”

He heard her go gratefully, and rolled over into the foetal position, hugging his knees to his chest. His head was still pounding from the blow it had taken, and his feet stung badly, although he knew if he were to step on them the pain would be much worse. He shut his eyes and tried to drift back off, but too soon the door reopened and Alison came in, holding a blanket in her arms. 

“Can you sit up for me?”

Despite himself, Mike forced himself up into a sitting position, his head spinning slightly from the change. 

She smiled at him, as if he’d performed a clever trick. 

“That’s my good boy. Now I’ve been thinking about what would make you more content here, and I think I have a solution. I’ve run it past Doctor Jackson, and he’s agreed to try it.”

Mike blinked at her in confusion as she held out the bundle in her arms to him. He reached out and took it, nearly jumping out of his skin when it moved. 

“What….?” He pealed back the blanket, and found himself staring into the two most beautiful, chocolate eyes he’d ever seen. He carried on staring, not knowing what to say, until he was startled out of his trance by a wet tongue licking his hand. He was immediately smitten, lifting the puppy up and holding him close to his chest, a movement rewarded by having his chin immediately soaked with puppy tongue. He laughed out loud at this, an improvement that made Alison beam. 

“I told you we breed animals for testing down the corridor. Unfortunately, this little one has had some trouble with one of his paws. As he’s got bigger, it’s gotten more and more obvious that it’s damaged in some way, and is getting more deformed as he grows. He can’t really put any weight on it now, and in the future it might have to be amputated. Unfortunately, this means he really isn’t suitable as a test subject. He was due to be euthanized this weekend, but… What can I say? I’m a sap. And I thought maybe you’d like to look after him instead?”

The puppy was wriggling in Mike’s lap, apparently attempting to lick him all over all at once. Mike was utterly entranced, flipping the delighted puppy over onto his back and tickling his tummy so all his legs were kicking in the air. 

“We try, but they never get the attention they should in the lab. But I can see he’s going to be well looked after here. I’ll bring a crate for him to sleep in, and some dog food and bowls. I can take him out a couple of times a day when I do my rounds to start with, but if you can get him housetrained to use a litterbox will make everything a lot easier. Michael, are you listening?”

“Huh? Yeah, housetrained.” He went back to gazing at the pup as he continued to torture it with tickles. The object of his adoration, meanwhile, looked as if it would pass out from pleasure, wriggling happily with tickling. 

She laughed. “I think I’ll leave you two to it. I’ll pop back later with all his stuff. Maybe a chew toy, to stop him destroying the furniture, huh?”

“Sure. Hey wait!”

She paused at the door, glad that he’d found his voice again. “Yes dear?”

“What’s his name?

“Well, he’s just been test subject M3 as he was third male puppy. So you can give him a proper name I guess.” She left him then, considering this. 

Mike stopped his tickling, and the worn out puppy flopped into his arms, gazing up at him with such a look of pure adoration that Mike felt like his own heart would burst. He’d never had pets growing up, it hadn’t been practical. It certainly wasn’t practical now, with the hours he put in at Person Spector. He’d never had to choose the name of another living thing before, but suddenly, staring into the puppy’s warm, chocolate eyes, he knew what his name was. 

“Reginald. I’m going to call you Reggie. Do you like that?” The response was an enthusiastic return to licking every part he could reach, which broke Mike into giggles again. Eventually, Mike’s exhaustion won out, and he lay back on the bed. Reggie clambered over him until he was curled up under his chin and fell asleep instantly, while Mike lay there, gazing at him. 

He wondered if Alison fully realised what she’d done with that act of kindness. He now knew he had a reason to get through this. He had to survive whatever was thrown at him for Reggie’s sake. And until Harvey found him and got him away from this nightmare, he had someone to keep him going. Besides, he had to survive all of this to see the look on Harvey’s face when presented with Reggie. It was this image which stuck in Mike’s head as he drifted off to sleep, his hand curled over the warm, furry body next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, no spoilers, but I know that some people might be worried about this. I 100% guarantee that no harm will come to little Reggie. Whatever else happens in the rest of this story, Reggie will come through unscathed. I can't promise the same for the human characters ;)


	9. Chapter 9

“Harvey, come and look at this, I’ve found…”

“How did you get past Donna? I thought she had this office Louis-proofed?”

Louis, who had in fact, somehow walked straight past a distracted Donna, straightened his back. 

“I’m going to do you the favour of ignoring that piece of automatic snark and still show you what I’ve found.”

Harvey gestured to the chair, in what he hoped was a good enough admission of apology. He’d been sitting at his desk waiting to see Louis since about 6am, but the usual joke just came out anyway. 

“As per Katrina’s excellent detective work” - Harvey rolled his eyes, which Louis missed as he was rifling through the file in front of him – “Rachel and I have been digging through all the financials we can get our holds on. She spent half of yesterday looking into his biggest donors and found no one with any connection to a medical institution, and no individual donors who were medical doctors. “

“Which gets us nowhere. How about a more personal connection? Katrina thought that if he was sick it might explain some of what has been happening lately.”

“Which I was just getting to. Now sicknesses come in different forms, but our prospective leader of the free world ran the New York marathon last month in a not inconsiderate 3 hours 44mins. It was a big media deal.”

“It doesn’t rule sickness out completely though, and it could be a close family member. We have to have something more to go on Louis, or this wild goose chase that your associate has sent us on will have wasted a lot of time, which we don’t have a lot of.”

“Which is where my genius comes in. I had a thought last night; what if we’re looking in the wrong direction?”

“Meaning?”

“We’ve been looking for someone who’s donated to his campaign. What if the money is flowing the other way?”

Harvey considered this. “You think it’s him investing in this doctor?”

“Which is why I started checking his declared interests. And guess what I found?”

A big grin started to spread across Harvey’s face. “I could, but I don’t want to ruin the moment for you. Go on and tell me.”

“Our Senator has his fingers in all sorts of pies. But his thumb, as it were, is stuck deep in the crust of one International Centre for Alpha/Omega Research, or ICAOR.”

“Louis, I don’t say this often enough, but … that’s good work. You AND Katrina.”

Louis preened under this rare praise. “Rachel is currently looking into them, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as we had anything.”

“You did? I… thank you Louis.”

“I’d better get back to it and see what more we can find. You’ll let Jessica know?”

“Of course, and I’ll make sure she knows where the information came from.”

Louis nodded at this and turned to go, but hovered in the doorway. 

“Spit it out, Louis, whatever it is.”

“It’s just that I’ve never seen you so worked up over a case before. Even with Hardman.”

Harvey’s face immediately went blank. “And see, you just did it again. Whenever anyone suggests you have a personal stake in this you revert to type.”

He came back towards the desk so he was right in front of Harvey. 

“I know I’m not the ideal personal to take, well any, advice from. But don’t think it’s a weakness to be worried about your associate. If it were Katrina missing, I’d be doing everything in my power to find her too. And we know your bond with Mike is more than that.” And with that, he left the office, apologising to Donna as he went past for circumventing her the first time. 

Harvey winced at the word ‘bond’, poking as it did the subconscious part of his brain that tried not to think in those terms about Mike. He knew that’s not what Louis had meant by it…. Or had he? Was he that obvious? Until this week he really hadn’t considered Mike like that at all. He’d just been… Mike. Not an omega. Certainly not a potential bond. He shook his head; there was no way Louis had meant it like that.   
Now, to find out all he could about the ICAOR and what exactly the Senator was paying for them to do. 

-

Alison paused as she entered Mike’s room, wishing she had a camera. Mike was curled up on the bed, with the tiny beagle puppy snuggled tight under his chin. She silently berated herself for not thinking of it earlier; of course he was happier now. It was like children, wasn’t it? Little girls playing with their dolls, pretending to be mothers themselves. 

Smiling, she gently put her hand on Mike’s shoulder, although not gently enough perhaps, as he startled awake instantly.

“Hey Michael, early start today. Dr Jackson has places he needs to be, so will be in soon to check up on you, so I need to take your blood and give you your meds quickly.”

Mike nodded, resigned, trying not to allow himself the small hope of the Doctor being absent for most of the day. He tickled Reggie awake as Alison first took the usual two vials of blood, then gave him his daily injection of what she called his ‘vitamins’. 

“Maybe they’ll give me a shiny coat and bright eyes like you, huh?”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing important. Will you put Reggie in his crate while the doctor is here?”

“I could, but why don’t I take him with me? We have a covered yard that those of us who are slaves to the hell of nicotine use when we get desperate.”

Seeing his expression, she smiled, and ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring him back. I wouldn’t dare try and separate you two now.”

Mike was still sceptical, but also knew he didn’t really have any say, so he simply nodded.

“Now, you got five minutes to use _your_ bathroom then we better get you strapped in for the boss.”

-

“Really? That’s all we have?”

Rachel flushed, but met Louis’ gaze; she had confidence in her researching abilities. 

“I can’t invent issues that don’t exist. Trust me, I’ve looked everywhere and this is all that there is to find, at least officially.”

“Harvey isn’t going to be pleased.”

“Harvey isn’t going to be pleased with what?”

Louis rolled his eyes and turned round. He could always trust Harvey to come at exactly the wrong moment; he was like the anti-Donna in that regard. 

“Rachel has been looking into the ICAOR.”

“And?”

Rachel handed him the file she had been clutching. “Not much. They’re mainly a research institute looking into the biological connections between alphas and omegas. There was some bad press around three years ago when they were investigated for animal cruelty, and the resulting anti-vivisection demos got so bad that most of the board resigned. Pretty much the entire facility came under new management about eighteen months ago, which is roughly when our friend the Senator started investing, but there’s been no sign of any trouble since. All subsequent inspections have been passed with flying colours so the demonstrators have moved on.” 

“And there’s no evidence of human experimentation?”

“None. It’s mainly rats and mice. The largest animals they have there are beagles.” Rachel shrugged, frustrated. “I don’t like animal testing much, but there’s nothing illegal about it. I think this is a dead-end Mr Spector, I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK Rachel, I know you’ve done your best. Why don’t you go and get a coffee? You look like you could use a break.”

She smiled, gratefully. Wild horses wouldn’t have dragged any admission of weariness out of her, but she couldn’t deny this whole thing was effecting her badly. 

As soon as the door shut behind her, Louis turned to Harvey. “And now tell me why you just sent her away.”

Harvey was surprised; Louis wasn’t usually that perceptive. “As I said, she looked like she needed a coffee.”

Louis snorted and stared pointedly at the other man. “Cos you usually give a shit. Spill. If you want me to help with this … whatever it is, I need to know what’s going on.”

Harvey considered for a moment, then nodded, proceeding to fill Louis in on what the detective had told him about the murders. 

“I know I’m not exactly known for my sensitivity, but even I’m pretty sure that Rachel doesn’t need to hear the details about omegas being euthanised.”

“And this is why you think the ICAOR is involved? I mean, I like to think I have pretty good instincts, and my gut is telling me this thing stinks, but why are you so sure?”

“You smell with your gut? Never mind… Look at the facts. Omegas have been being murdered and dumped on the streets for the last eighteen months. My guy says they were put down like unwanted animals, and it coincidentally started around the same time as this place changed hands.”

“And around the same time as a noted anti-omega rights politician started investing in them. Pretty ballsy move, going from being investigated for animal abuse to experimenting on people.”

Harvey grimaced at this. “Not if you consider those people to be worth less than animals. Keep looking into them. I’m going to pay a visit to the ORO and see if they know anything about this. At least I’ll feel like I’m doing something.“ He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to will his oncoming headache to disappear, then turned to go.

Louis watched him go, unnerved. It was unnatural seeing Harvey like this; he’d rather he was being teased as usual. He turned back to his research, determined to find something, if only to return Pearson Spector to normality. 

-

Mike flexed his fingers. The restraints weren’t painful as such, but it was still uncomfortable lying there unable to move; he was restless at the best of times, so it felt like an extra form of torture being tied down like this. 

He heard the door open and tensed, waiting for the Doctor to speak. 

“Good morning, boy. I shan’t be staying long today I’m afraid.” The bed dipped as Jackson sat down next to him. “I’m sure you think I should devote my time to you alone, but I am a busy man.”

As he spoke, he put his hand on Mike’s bare thigh and started stroking it up and down, making him tremble with fear at what might be about to happen. 

“See? I can feel your anticipation. It won’t be long now. Do you know what day it is, boy?”

“No”

Jackson stopped stroking him and pinched the inside of his thigh hard, eliciting a hiss of pain from Mike. “’No’ what, boy?”

“No sir! I’m sorry.”

Mollified, he returned to stroking him as if nothing had happened. “Today is Thursday. Which means tomorrow is the start of a new world for whores like you.”

There was a long silence; Mike lay there, barely daring to breathe as he felt the hand continue its rhythmic stroking. 

“I have some good news for you personally, as well.” Mike jolted at the sudden speech. “I’ve been keeping an eye on your hormone levels and it would seem that you’re due in heat very soon, probably in the next couple of days.” The stroking stopped and instead he felt a hand grip his hair and force his head to the side. When the doctor spoke again, it was right against Mike’s ear, his breath warm against his cheek. “You want it, don’t you? You’re like every other omega whore. You just want to be claimed, owned.” He sucked hard against Mike’s throat, leaving a livid bruise standing out on his pale skin. “Just a couple more days, then you’ll be mine.”

The bed sprang back as Jackson got up suddenly. “And now I have to deal with my responsibilities, as alphas need to. We don’t all have someone to cater to our every need. You will be a good boy for Dr Williams while I’m gone. That is not a question.”

The door click signified his exit, and Mike finally exhaled. He’d already had a strong feeling about his heat but had been trying not to think about it; clearly that was no longer an option. Two more days then, three at the most, and before that there was whatever the Senator was planning for tomorrow. He was struck by the awful realisation that however bad he had thought things were, they were about to get much worse.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning - extra angst!

“And worse it may be yet: the worst is not so long as we can say 'This is the worst.”

Elizabeth sighed as she poured coffee for herself, Simon and Harvey. “Those poor things. I am afraid, Mr Specter, that sometimes I really don’t understand people. At all.”

“I’m sorry. I know that couldn’t have been easy to hear.” Harvey had filled the two in on the police reports about the murdered omegas. Jenkins had turned a shade of pale green and had to excuse himself for a minute, but Elizabeth had just seemed to be come unbearably sad. 

“I know this is painful for you. But is there anything at all you can tell me that might help?”

“I wish there was. I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before.”

“How about the ICAOR? Are you familiar with them?”

“Not really. Although… Lord Graham might be the man to speak to here. In what he calls his ‘old’ life he was a medical doctor before he left England. I believe he still takes an interest in the more scientific side of omega rights. Would you like me to see if he’s available?”

“Please. Anything might be useful, and we’re running out of time.” 

He turned to Simon as she reached for the phone on her desk. 

“Feeling better?”

The other man winced, clearly embarrassed about his earlier reaction. 

“I’m not sure ‘better’ is exactly the word I’d use, but at least I’ve lost the urge to vomit. Tell me, Mr Specter…”

“Harvey, please”

“Harvey, then. Elizabeth and I have seen what alphas can do to omegas. I thought I’d seen the worst of it, but apparently not.” He fell silent, considering how to phrase his question. 

“Please, speak your mind.”

“Then tell me, sir, as an alpha. Do you believe us sub-human?”

Harvey’s immediate response was to be deeply offended, but he paused before replying. 

“I think it’s fair to say that before this past couple of weeks, I really didn’t consider omegas at all. I’ve slept with my share, but then I’ve slept with more than my share of betas too, and even some alphas. They were just… there. When I meet somebody new, my first thought is not ‘are they an omega’, it’s ‘what is their story?’”. He paused. “Or more accurately, ‘what is their weakness?’. I am a lawyer, Mr Jenkins, after all.”

The other man smiled at him, a tight brittle smile that showed little amusement. “I commend your… blindness. You realise, of course, that such blindness is in itself evidence of your privilege as an alpha.” He held his hand up to forestall Harvey’s imminent protestation. “Hear me out, please. I am not mocking you. I genuinely believe it _is_ commendable for you to see everyone as a person, first and foremost. Or possibly as a criminal. But you understand that this isn’t something that an omega can afford to do. When I meet someone for the first time, my first thought _is_ ‘are they an alpha?’, shortly followed by ‘are they a threat?’. We cannot afford to not think like that. There are too many alphas, and indeed some betas, who see us as something to own, to control. Or, to be blunt, something to fuck.”

“Not all alphas are like that.”

Simon burst out laughing. “Harvey, I thought better of you than that. Such a trite response. Consider this. If you heard that in the last hour, an alpha had grabbed an omega on the street and forced themselves on them, would you be surprised?”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“And maybe they haven’t. But I would argue that the fact that in itself it doesn’t surprise you really doesn’t reflect well on alphas as a whole, does it?”

And to that, there was really no response Harvey could make. 

Elizabeth coughed, genteelly. “Gentlemen, if I can interrupt? We are in luck, Lord Graham is in the building today. He doesn’t come here as often as he would like as he has many commitments, but he is happy to speak with you, Harvey. May I escort you to his office?”

“Yes, thank you.” He turned to Simon. “Mr Jenkins, thank you. You have certainly given me something to think about.”

They shook hands, and he followed Elizabeth out the door. “Don’t mind Simon. He is a very reserved man, generally, but like many reserved men he has his limit, and I’m afraid this current situation is his. He didn’t mean to offend you. We know that Pearson Spector is widely thought of as being very good to omegas.”

“No apology necessary. I wasn’t offended.” The lie came out easily, even though he knew the woman leading him down the corridor was far too astute to believe him. “I think I need to consider what he said further, though. Maybe I’m not as modern as I’ve always prided myself on being.”

Elizabeth patted his arm. “And the fact that you acknowledge this shows me what a good man you are. And here we are.” She knocked on the door they’d reached and it was opened immediately by Lord Graham. 

“Elizabeth, Mr Specter. Do come in.”

“Good morning, Charles, I shall leave you two gentlemen to it. I’m afraid I have no desire to hear any of these details again. I trust you shall let me know if any further information comes to light.”

Harvey nodded, then impulsively took her hand and kissed it. To his surprise, she blushed, then laughed. “Oh Harvey. I pity any omega that catches your eye. I doubt they’d stand a chance against your charm offensive.” With that, she turned and left, shutting the door behind her. 

“Do have a seat, Mr Specter, I’m happy to help in any way, although I think you’ll be disappointed.”

Harvey sat down and considered the alpha opposite. “Did Elizabeth fill you in?”

“She did. She was hoping that I might have information about the ICAOR, but I’m afraid I can’t help you there. I hadn’t even heard of them until I came to America, so clearly they had no international standing. I pride myself in knowing who is at the cutting edge of such research and they never came up. I have of course heard a little since, but I doubt there is anything you haven’t already heard in your own investigations. Most of the news articles dwell on the unfortunate animal cruelty allegations.”

“And there’s been nothing in scientific journals? No research breakthroughs…”

“I can’t say I’ve seen any published papers from there. It would appear they aren’t too interested in peer review.” Harvey could hear the strong note of disapproval here. 

“Well, it was a long shot I guess. I appreciate your time anyway, Lord Graham.”

“Charles, please. Lord Graham was, of course, my late father, and since inheriting the title I can’t say I’ve ever become used to it. In England of course most people just called me doctor, but over here I find it does have its uses. I much prefer Charles though.”

“Charles it is. How long ago did you move here?”

“A little over two years now. And to forestall your next question, it was because of the institute. I met Elizabeth when she was over for a conference on omega rights, and she persuaded me to become involved. It was rather a surprise; England has many bad points, as I’m sure you are aware, but omegas are generally treated very well there. We are far too busy putting people down for their class to worry about their status in other realms. And of course, it’s all a bit too… sexual… for many of my countrymen to get involved with. So I came over here. The US is rather at the forefront of the struggle unfortunately.”

Harvey stood. “Well I don’t want to take up any more of your time.”

“It’s no bother. We are all rather agitated at the moment, as I’m sure you understand. None of us, after all, know what tomorrow will bring, do we? Before you go, would you mind if I asked you a more personal question?”

Harvey frowned, but nodded his assent. 

“Your young associate. I assume there’s been no news?”

“We’re continuing our investigations.”

“I am sorry. He seemed like a nice boy. Forgive my frankness, but were you intending to bond with him?”

Harvey was completely thrown by the question and found himself speechless for once. 

“Forgive me, I did not mean to speak out of turn.”

“No, it’s… it’s alright. No, I hadn’t intended… I hadn’t intended anything. I never really thought of him in that way, before.”

“Before?” 

“Lord Graham… Charles. I have never been a believer in some romantic bond between alphas and omegas. But it’s possible that lately I have been re-evaluating the relationship I had with my associate.”

He met the Englishman’s gaze, and was surprised to find a look of pity. 

“How often is it said ‘we don’t know what we have until it is gone’, yes?”

“Something like that maybe. Perhaps it’s just the feeling that if we had been bonded this wouldn’t have happened.”

Lord Graham shrugged. “Or maybe it would, and you would be in even more pain. Who knows what might have been? Do let me know if you get any news. It would be a relief to know that you had found him safely.”

Harvey nodded, and took his leave, feeling deeply unsettled. Checking his phone as he left the building, he saw there was a message to call Louis. 

“Louis, have you got something?”

“Something weird. I just spoke to Katrina. She said the campaign office is in chaos as the Senator has gone missing.”

“Missing? Missing how?”

“Mitchell apparently called the campaign manager first thing and said to cancel his afternoon appointments as he wouldn’t be back in the office till at least 5 O’clock. No one apparently knows where he’s gone, and there are journalists wanting interviews about tomorrow.”

“Huh. Alright Louis, thank you. I’m heading back to the office now. Let me know if he turns up. And… say thank you to Katrina when you speak to her.”

“She may die of shock, but sure.”

Harvey hung up and flagged down a cab. The visit to the ORO had effectively been a washout, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d learned a lot more than he had expected to. 

-

Mike was sitting up in bed, holding a rubber chew toy for Reggie who was gnawing on it in what appeared to be blissful happiness. He smiled down at the dog, amused at the irony that he used to be called a puppy himself. “I wish all it took was a rubber bone to keep me happy, Reg.”

He didn’t take his eyes off the pup when he heard the door, knowing it was time for Alison to make her rounds. 

“Now that is adorable. Made a friend I see?”

Mike looked up with a start and gaped with astonishment as Senator Mitchell entered the room, Alison following behind, looking very nervous. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. How are you Michael, I imagine it’s been quite the week.”

Mike just stared at him, not knowing what to say. 

“Michael, mind your manners. Please answer the Senator when he speaks to you.”

“Oh, it’s quite all right Doctor Williams. I expect Michael is still adjusting to his change in circumstances.”

Mike nodded, warily. The Senator was being almost scarily polite to him, but Mike wasn’t going to allow himself to be fooled. 

“May I?” The alpha gestured to the end of the bed. “As there are no chairs in here, and I’m not as young as I was.”

Mike drew his legs up and tucked them under himself, pulling Reggie into his lap. Just holding him made him feel calmer, even though he wasn’t deluded enough to believe that his presence would prevent whatever it was the Senator was intending. 

“It’s been a very busy week for me as well, Michael, but I thought, well, I’m in charge, aren’t I? I can take some time off if I choose. So I thought I’d come and see how you’re settling in, and answer any questions you might have. The staff here are all wonderful of course, but they tend to operate on a ‘need to know’ basis. I can, of course, choose to tell you whatever I want. So what is it?”

Mike was by now deeply confused. “I’m sorry, what is what? I don’t…” He looked at Alison for guidance but she simply shrugged at him. 

“What would you like to know? I’ll be honest with you if I can. I understand Doctor Williams here has already told you that she won’t lie to you, and I’d like to make you the same promise. So go on, ask me anything you want.”

Mike mentally filed that under ‘deeply suspicious’ but figured, what the hell. 

“Why am I here?”

The Senator chuckled. “Straight in with the big one, huh? Well that’s fair enough. I expect Doctor Williams has already filled you in on the research that’s being done here, so I’m guessing you want to know on a more _personal_ level. ‘Why me?’ as it were.”

Mike nodded. 

“Doctor Williams, would you excuse us? Give us, oh, half an hour. And I would very much like to see Michael’s file.”

“Of course Senator.”

Mike watched with alarm as she left, but the Senator patted his knee. 

“Don’t be alarmed. Nothing is going to happen that you don’t agree to. Not today, anyway.” He chuckled again, as if this was an amusing joke, then continued.

“This time last week, I had never heard the name of Pearson Spector. And then earlier this week, my right hand man informed me that they were looking into me, both personally and professionally. Now, I pride myself on the fact that I have never done anything illegal in my life.”

Mike’s scepticism must have shown on his face, as the Senator laughed. “You don’t believe me. I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t believe me either. But it’s true; when you have money and power, it’s amazing how much you _don’t_ have to break the law. But there are certain… associations, shall we say, that it would not be in my interest to have more widely looked into. One of those is the one you’re currently a guest of. Oh, there’s nothing they can prove exactly. Even if they discover the more extracurricular research that goes on here, there’s nothing to say I knew about it. But it’s election year, and I’m sure you understand, dear boy, that mud sticks.

“So, as you are aware, I paid a visit to your offices. My plan was to put some pressure on your bosses, convince them that it isn’t in their best interests to represent the ORO any longer. And then I met you.”

“I don’t understand. I didn’t do anything when we met…”

“You didn’t have to. I’ve been looking for a young omega to take under my wing for some time and let’s say you are exactly my type. Young, blond, delicate… I don’t believe in love at first sight, Michael, but if I did I’d say that was what happened. So my plan changed. I decided that I had to have you, and it was a pleasant coincidence that it would mean that your firm was, shall we say, distracted by your absence.”

Mike was dumbstruck. He’d figured that the Senator had had him kidnapped to deter Pearson Spector from helping the ORO, but it had never occurred to him that this wasn’t the primary purpose. 

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to have been successful. They are still poking around, looking into my finances and my personal life. But I think I’m right in saying that they have failed to find anything concrete. And I’m afraid they don’t seem to be looking for you at all.” He looked at Mike with an expression of deep pity. “I understand from my … contacts… that the NYPD advised them that you had probably run off with alpha, and it would seem that they have accepted this. So much for my plan! I had overestimated the concern that such a firm as yours would have for one errant omega. Still, we can’t win them all, can we? And I have, after all, won the first prize.” 

Mike sat there, shell-shocked. The one thing he had been certain of during his captivity was that Harvey would be looking for him. Could he really have believed such a bullshit story as him running off with an alpha? After everything Harvey had done for him? But the Senator had no reason to lie; he had just told him his entire plan, why would he lie about such an insignificant, to him, part of it? He shook his head, trying to hide his utter despair at this news and failing utterly. 

“I am sorry, Michael, but perhaps it’s better you find out now. Omegas simply aren’t of value to most people.”

Mike looked up sharply. “Including you. The only reason the ORO came to us is that they know you’re trying to push through anti-omega legislation.”

“That is an impressive over-simplification. I am by no means anti-omega. I believe they have a very valuable role in society. I do, however, believe that this place is not the same as for alphas. Everyone has their role in life, Michael. It benefits no one to try to force a square peg into a round hole. Tell me; you work in a law firm. You are friends with others there, yes?”

Mike nodded slowly, not sure where this was headed. 

“Would you say that you, as a lawyer, have more worth than, say, your boss’ secretary?”

“Of course not!” Mike had a vision of Donna; the word ‘unworthy’ couldn’t be less applicable. 

“And I bet she works just as hard and is just as bright as any lawyer there. But she has her role, yes? The man who cleans the street is just as worthy and has just as much a role to play in the rich tapestry of life as the man who runs the country. But would you trust a street cleaner with matters of state?”

“It’s not the same. It’s about equality…”

“Equality is an admirable goal, Michael, but it doesn’t work. People are simply too different. Alphas have their role, omegas have theirs. They’ve forgotten their identity. I simply want to help remind them.”

Mike realised this discussion was going nowhere, and changed tactic. 

“So… what are you planning to do with me? You know they’ve been experimenting on me…”

“I am aware, although I hope that it hasn’t been too unpleasant.”

Mike snorted at this, wondering whether to fill the Senator in on what exactly had been happening. Given he could clearly see Mike’s bandaged feet, he figured he probably wouldn’t care either way.

“You’re a bright boy, I’m sure you’ve figured out that you’re not the first omega to be brought here, and I’m sure you won’t be the last. I have an agreement, shall we say, with the good doctor that while you are here he can run tests and his usual experiments. When it is time for your heat, I shall come and collect you, and you don’t need to worry about any of this anymore.” 

“You’re… planning on claiming me?”

“Child, I thought you were intelligent. Haven’t you been listening at all? Of course I am planning on claiming you. I…”

He was interrupted by a knock on the door and Alison entering, Mike’s file in her hand. 

“Ah, Doctor Williams, welcome back. May I?”

He reached out, took the file from her hand and started flicking through. She looked over to Mike, taking in his expression which was currently radiating a mix of confusion and astonishment. 

“You OK Michael? Did you get the answers you were looking for?”

“Um, more than, I think…”

“This is strange.” Senator Mitchell had Mike’s file open on his IQ results. “These are considerably lower than I’d expect from a Harvard educated lawyer.”

“Michael wasn’t feeling at his best that day, Senator.”

Despite himself, Mike gave a small smile at Alison’s defensive response.

“Still… from what I’ve seen and heard I would expect Harvey Specter’s personal associate to have much higher numbers.” He studied Mike’s face intently. “Is there something you want to tell me, Michael?”

“I don’t know what you mean, I’m sorry. I did my best…”

“I’m sure you did, honey.” Alison patted his arm, “Don’t worry about it.”

The Senator smiled suddenly. “I wonder if the answer is that Mr Specter is not so different from me as he would like. Perhaps he is also vulnerable to a pretty face, after all.”

Mike had to swallow his indignation at the assumption he had been hired for purely decorative purposes, as he really didn’t want his cover blown. He was pretty sure that now, more than ever, it was important to be seen as much less intelligent than he was. 

“Well, this has been a lovely way to spend the afternoon, but unfortunately duty calls. I have a very important day tomorrow and must go and prepare. I have enjoyed speaking with you, Michael. I very much look forward to our next meeting.”

He rose, smiling down at Mike. “Would you show me out, please, Doctor Williams?”

“Of course, please follow me Senator.”

As they left, Alison glanced back over her shoulder at Mike, who was sitting stunned, contemplating what he’d learned. It seemed odd to her that he’d be hired as just a pretty face. Surely that was what secretaries were for, not lawyers? It made her wonder….

After they’d gone, Mike exhaled and thought about what he’d learned. Oh, he’d already figured out that the Senator had to have been involved, but he hadn’t expected it to be on such a personal level. No one had ever shown that much interest in him before; he was just a skinny omega bike messenger before he’d met Harvey, and since then he’d been working too hard to do any real socialisation. And now he had two dangerous, powerful alphas planning to claim him. The reality hit him suddenly with a jolt – Senator Mitchell was being played. He clearly didn’t know that Dr. Jackson was planning on claiming him as soon as he was in heat, and then, what? Would he tell him that it was too late, Mike already belonged to him? Even Mike could see that this would be foolish, especially if the Senator were to win the election. He would make a very powerful enemy. More likely he’d make up some lie, an experiment gone wrong, perhaps, unfortunate, but plenty more omegas where he came from etc. 

The whole situation was too confusing for him, and his head was beginning to pound. He knew one thing, however, going forward. No one was looking for him. No one was going to burst in and rescue him. If he was getting out, he was getting out on his own. 

-

“Any scotch left?”

Harvey didn’t move from his position, staring out of the window. Even in the reflection, he could see the concern on Donna’s face. 

“Help yourself.”

She shut the door behind her and poured a large shot. Harvey emptied his own glass and held it out to her; she frowned, but refilled it anyway and came and stood beside him.

“Wanna talk?”

“I’m trying to wrap my head around what’s happening. It’s like I have a jigsaw, and I know what the final picture should be, but I can’t get the pieces to join up right.”

“OK.” She gestured at his chair, and he sat down, with her perched on the corner of his desk. 

“Talk me through it. Let’s try and find a corner piece.”

He took a large sip from his glass. 

“The previous victims were all similar; similar age, type, hair colour. They were all people who wouldn’t be missed.”

“Which makes sense. Much easier to do whatever it is they’re doing if they aren’t having people coming after them.”

“Right. And especially with the homeless ones – I mean, who gives a shit about some homeless omegas, right?”

“Harvey…”

“So why change the MO? Why pick Mike, when he’s in a good job and he’ll be missed?”

“He doesn’t have any family, the NYPD thought he’d just run off.”

“But it’s still a risky one. I mean, we’re lawyers, they must have figured we’d look into it. Gotta be a hell of a lot riskier than just picking up someone else from the street.”

“Harvey, this is all assuming that _has_ been taken by the same person or people, and we don’t know that.”

Harvey sighed. “No, we don’t. But right now it’s the only thing we have to go on.”

Donna studied his face for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. So what could be a reason for the change up? Is there another link we’re missing? Like, another criteria that Mike would fit that might make him worth the risk?”

“The only thing I can think of is his brain, and as far as Elliott can tell none of the others were anything out of the ordinary.” 

“OK. Well… if you think it’s all connected then maybe the reason was to scare you.”

“What?”

She shrugged. “If you think this is all down to the Senator, and I know that you do, then maybe he’s making a statement. 'See what happens when you pry into my affairs'”

“Shit. Well that would be great. The only way I could possibly feel worse about this is if it was directly my fault, so that would figure.”

“Harvey! Again, not about you. And you asked, so I’m trying to think of answers.”

Harvey swiped a hand across his eyes. “You’re right. Again. I’m sorry, Donna.”

He drained his glass again, trying not to think about how much he’d drunk that week. “Maybe it’s simpler than we think. Maybe it was just opportunistic. Wrong place, wrong time.”

“I don’t know if that would make it better or worse. To think that there wasn’t even a reason for choosing Mike.”

“Me neither. I don’t know Donna, I just… Maybe someone met him and decided he was worth the extra risk for some reason. He seems to have that effect on people.”

“Yes. He does.”

Something in Donna’s voice made Harvey look up at her, only to be shocked at tears running down her face. He immediately jumped up and enveloped her in a hug. 

“Hey, hey now. What’s this? You don’t cry, you don’t let your make up get ruined!”

Donna choked back a watery laugh. “Well it’s late, I figure the best time is when there’s no one around to see. I mean, you don’t count, obviously.”

He handed her his pocket square, and she dabbed at her eyes, frowning at the mascara that now soiled the linen. “So much for waterproof.”

“I’ll sue them for you.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“It’ll be my pleasure. We’ll find some other tough nuts who finally teared up, make it a class action.”

This actually pulled a laugh from her. “I can’t bear this, Harvey. Not knowing where he is, how he is. _IF_ he still is, even. He must be so scared.”

“We’ll get him back, Donna. We will. Come on, Ray’s outside. Why don’t you stay at mine tonight? I’m pretty sure I could use the company while I fail to sleep again. And there’s more scotch there too.”

“Deal.”

He took her arm and led her out towards the elevator. 

“It’ll be OK, Donna, you’ll see.”

She squeezed his hand tightly. “I just wish you didn’t sound so much as if you were trying to convince yourself of that, as well as me.”

Harvey shook his head. “So do I.”


	11. Chapter 11

“Come on sleepyhead, time to wake up.”

“Ugh. “ Harvey cracked an eye open just as the room was flooded with light and immediately shut it again. “You’re fired.”

“No, I’m not. Wanna know why? Because I’m holding in my hands a large glass of water and some heavy duty painkillers, and in the kitchen there’s a plate of seriously greasy food with your name on it.”

“You’re re-hired.”

He rolled over onto his back and finally opened his eyes. “How…. Just how?”

“How am I not in the same pathetic state you’re in?”

Harvey started to nod, but the small movement jarred his head too much. Donna was perched on the edge of the bed, wearing one of his robes, and looking completely put together and not even a little bit hungover. 

“I’m Donna. Also, I’m not an idiot. Sadly, neither of those facts are true for you. So get up, eat, have a shower, and please, take extra time with brushing your teeth, by which time Ray will be here to take us to the office.”

Harvey grunted. “Prada? Gucci?”

“Louis Vuitton.”

“Deal.”

-

”Good morning Michael. You will have to forgive me for neglecting you for two days running.”

Mike was sitting up on the bed in his usual position, with his legs tucked beneath him and Reggie on his lap, blindfold on. He didn’t respond to Doctor Jackson’s apology, assuming correctly that an answer wasn’t required. 

“You will, however, be glad to note that after today I shall be able to devote more of time to you and your training.”

He winced at ‘training’, trying not to dwell on what was meant by that. 

Jackson paused, considering Mike’s silence. “You know what today is, don’t you boy? You may answer.”

“Um, Friday? I think?” The days had rather got away from him, with no access to natural light and irregular sleeping, but he’d tried to keep up with how time was going; it would be too easy for him to lose track completely. 

The doctor chuckled, as if Mike had performed a clever trick. “Well done. It is indeed Friday, which means that this afternoon Senator Mitchell is speaking to the great and good of New York on his intentions once he gains power.” He reached over, and ruffled his hair. Mike flinched automatically, then tensed for the inevitable rebuke, but it didn’t come. 

“Today, child, everything changes. Alphas will regain their rightful place in society, and the omega threat will no longer exist. Tomorrow is a bright new world. Be a good boy for Dr Williams today, and when I return I shall demonstrate to you how lucky you are to have a beneficent alpha to look after you.”

Mike heard the door click shut, and let some of the tension bleed out of him. He still didn’t understand how the Senator’s speech in itself could change things. He was a powerful man, but he didn’t make the law, did he? Nothing could happen that quickly. He heard the door open again, and listened to the sound of Alison’s shoes on the tiles – he had learned from his previous mistake to not make any assumptions about who was coming and going. 

“Morning, sunshine. Let’s get that blindfold off, shall we?” He blinked several times as it came off, taking time to adjust to the harsh lights of the room as usual. “Did Dr Jackson tell you what’s happening today?”

“Kind of. I don’t really understand…”

“Well, to be honest with you, I’m not sure I do either. But the Senator has a very persuasive way with words, so we’ll see.”

Mike thought for a second. “It’s kind of a big deal, right? So are they broadcasting it?” 

“I expect so. In fact, I’m pretty sure they will, I know there’s a lot of media interest so I guess all the local guys will be there. Why?”

“I know it’s probably against, like, all the rules… but can we watch maybe? I mean, if the future of omegas is going to be affected that’s kind of huge for me.” He looked up at her, deliberately using his most winning gaze (one that Donna had banned him from using on her as she declared it unfair and ‘almost certainly illegal as a weapon under the Geneva Convention). Alison had no chance. 

“Oh lord. Don’t look at me like that. How can I refuse you? You’re as bad as that one” she gestured here to Reggie. “I can’t see that Doctor Jackson could disapprove under the circumstances. I’ll see what I can do, OK?”

To her astonishment, he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Alison”, he said softly, but sincerely. 

She blushed, and gently pushed him back. “Now none of that. Imagine what the Doctor would say if he thought I was encouraging his omega to kiss me!” The expression on her face, however, showed that she was thrilled with his response, and she remained clearly flustered as she took his daily blood samples, taking several times to find a vein. “See? Look what happens when you get me embarrassed!”

He laughed at this and shook his head. “I’m getting pretty used to needles.”

“I guess you are, aren’t you?” She sighed, and stood. “Alright then. I’ll be back this afternoon and I’ll see what I can do about the speech. You two boys behave till then.”

Mike watched her leave, and tickled Reggie’s head affectionately. “Like you’re ever a bad boy, are you Reggie?” He sighed, and settled back on the bed to wait. 

-

“Have you actually done any work today, or has the entire morning been spent staring out of the window?”

Harvey turned to see Jessica staring at him with a thoughtful look on her face; Donna, behind her, shrugged in apology at not warning him. Jessica was the boss, after all. 

“I don’t know, Jessica, there’s just something bothering me at the moment which makes it hard to concentrate. I’d try to explain, but you’d need to have basic empathy.”

“And standing there doing your best impression of an angst ridden super hero is helping, is it?”

She sighed, and sat down on the couch, glaring pointedly at him until he came and sat beside her. 

“Harvey, I get it. I do. You’re worried about Mike. So am I.”

He snorted at this, derisively. 

“You don’t think I am? You don’t think I’m concerned that one of my employees is missing?”

“Only in that it’s one less person’s billables being added to the pile.”

The slap was sudden and sharp. “What, too close to the truth? You never wanted him here, now he’s gone. Problem solved, isn’t it?”

Jessica stood and took a deep breath, counting to five before she responded. “Harvey, I am going to do you the favour of pretending that I didn’t hear that. In ninety minutes, Senator Mitchell is making his speech and I have invited all those who wish to see it to join us in the library where we will be watching. In the meantime, I suggest you have a good, hard think about what you just said to me.”

She turned sharply on her heel and walked out of the office, shutting Harvey in alone as she went. He groaned in realisation of his mistake. “Well, shit.”

Jessica beckoned Donna after her, and they headed into the managing partner’s office. She poured two cups of tea, handed one to Donna, then sat opposite her, an eyebrow raised, silently waiting. 

“He’s… not handling this well.”

“Yes, I got that thank you. Is there anything you wish to tell me?”

“Such as?”

“Is this just the concern of an employer?”

“Of course not, you know they’re friends!”

“Donna, don’t wilfully misunderstand me. I am really not in the mood.”

“Jessica… I promise you, I’m not.”

Donna turned and looked out through the glass walls into the corridor to check they were not being overheard. 

“You’re implying that Harvey’s having a relationship with Mike.”

“You have to admit, it would explain a great deal. Harvey has a reputation for a reason, Donna, you know that. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been caught dipping his pen in the company ink. He’s the most _alpha_ alpha I know, and he’s been working alongside an unbonded omega for months. Can you look me in the eye and swear there’s been nothing going on?”

“Yes, I can.”

Donna paused, torn between her loyalty to Harvey and her own self-preservation instincts, as lying to Jessica never ended well. She made up her mind finally on the basis that she wasn’t exactly betraying Harvey’s trust, and besides, it might benefit him if Jessica were more understanding. 

“I can promise you that nothing has happened between Harvey and Mike.”

“But?”

“I think these last few days, he’s been … reconsidering their relationship. Kind of reappraising their interactions. I think he’s been looking back over their time working together and examining his motives a little closer. Possibly.”

Jessica sat back in her chair as realisation dawned. “You think he’s in love with him.”

Donna pursed her lips. “Jessica, no one knows Harvey like I do. He’s a good man, and he will always try to do the right thing. But I’ve never seen him act the way he does with Mike. I think he’s been falling in love for a long time, and it’s taken something like this to wake him up to the fact.”

“Well that would explain how he’s been acting. Harvey isn’t generally given to introspection, so I would imagine having to think about his feelings would be a big shock.”

“Especially given the circumstances.”

Jessica grimaced. “Yes, these are not the ideal circumstances for the Tin Man to discover he does in fact have a heart.”

Donna took a long sip of her tea as she considered how to phrase what she wanted to say. 

“He shouldn’t have said that to you.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes. “But?”

“No but, he was out of order. But…no, please hear me out. I don’t think he’s quite ready to confront his feelings for Mike yet. I’m pretty sure he’s still firmly in the denial stage, and considers his reaction to Mike’s disappearance as being a perfectly normal, platonic response. And because he’s telling himself this it’s making it hard for him to see people reacting a little less… extremely. Am I making sense?”

“God help me, but I think you are.” Jessica sighed. “Donna, you know that I am not ecstatic about Mike Ross being at this firm. It puts us all in jeopardy, and this is MY firm. If I could wave a magic wand and make it so he was never employed by Pearson Specter, I would in a heartbeat.”

Donna opened her mouth to respond, but this time Jessica silenced her. “No, now it’s your turn to hear me out. Wanting him to not be a threat to my firm does not mean wanting something bad to happen to him. I’ve worked with him too, remember. I like him. As a person, how could you not? I once told Harvey he could be the best of both of us, and I still believe that. If there is anything within my power to help him, wherever he is, then I will do it. And…” She paused, watching Donna’s face carefully, “and if it turns out that it is too late, then I will personally make sure that the full weight of the law is brought down on whoever is responsible. Now, you make sure Harvey is fully aware of that, because whatever personal crisis he is going through right now, I will not have a repeat of this morning.”

Donna nodded, and stood to leave. 

“Thank you Jessica.”

Jessica nodded, brusquely. “You’re welcome. Now go and get your boss’s head out of his ass. There’s only an hour till the Senator speaks and I have a feeling he’ll need to be on his game for whatever is coming.”

-

The sight that confronted Alison when she returned to see Mike later was so over the top cute that she actually held up the iPad she was holding and took a snap, the click alerting him to her presence. 

“Prefer the floor to the bed now, do you?”

Mike had pulled the bedding down onto the floor and made it into a sort of nest next to the bed; he was curled up on it, with the squeaky bone that the doctor had brought for Reggie on one of her previous visits in his hand. Every time the tiny pup got close enough to make a grab for it he transferred it to his other hand, with Reggie getting visibly more wound up every time and the excited yips getting increasingly high pitched.  
“There’s not enough room for him to play properly on the bed, he needs space to run around. And it’s good for him to exercise his leg.”

“Uh huh. Well if you want to sit on the floor I’m not going to stop you, but I’m certainly not going to, so if you want to watch this speech you better re-make your bed.”

Mike noticed the tablet in her hand for the first time. “You brought it? We can actually watch?”

“I squared it with the boss, as long as you’re on your best behaviour. Both of you.” She smiled at him. “I must say I’m surprised at how keen you are to see this. I know you don’t agree with the Senator’s view on things.”

“That’s an understatement. He thinks we’re just… property.”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“It really isn’t. He wants alphas to be able to own us. Anyway, from what Doctor Jackson keeps telling me, whatever the Senator is planning on saying will have a direct effect on me and any other omegas. I have omega friends you know, ones that are still free. I want to know what’s happening and see it first hand.” Unspoken was Mike’s strong suspicion that if he didn’t hear the Senator’s words for himself then Jackson could tell him anything he wanted. 

“Well, that’s fair enough. I certainly can’t argue with you taking an interest.”

Mike snorted, resisting the temptation to point out that everyone else he’d met since he’d been abducted would have done exactly that. “Besides, have you any idea how boring it is in here? I mean, Reggie aside, there’s not a lot of stimulation. Right now if you said I could watch the 24 hour golf channel I’d probably jump at it.”

She laughed at this. “I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way. I’m pretty sure if I suggested more tests to fill the time you wouldn’t be thrilled.”

Mike visibly shuddered at this. “I thought not. How about I give it some thought, OK? I know that Doctor Jackson wouldn’t allow you access to a TV full time, but maybe there’s a compromise. Now come on, let’s get the bed sorted out.” She checked her watch. “We have about a half hour, assuming it starts on time, so come on, shift yourself!”

Mike reached up and grabbed the bed, using it as support while he forced himself to his feet. He tried unsuccessfully not to wince too much as he put his weight on them, and grimaced as the familiar sharp stab of pain shot through them. 

Alison frowned at him. “They still giving you pain, huh? I guess it’s time to change the dressing on them. I would have thought they’d be healing nicely by now. You’ve been keeping your weight off them, right?”

“As much as I can. I don’t have a lot of choice when I use the bathroom, but it’s not like I’m doing laps of the room.”

She smoothed down the bedding. “OK, hop up and I’ll take a look.”

He clambered, ungainly, onto the bed and stretched his legs out in front of him, chewing nervously on his bottom lip as she started to unwind the bandages. 

“Oh Michael”. As soon as she’d finished undressing the first foot it was obvious that it wasn’t healing at all. The gashes across the sole were inflamed, with the deepest one looking like it might be infected. “Honey, you haven’t been looking after these at all.”

“It isn’t my fault, it’s….” He stopped, knowing there was no point in continuing. 

“It’s what, Michael?”

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter. I’ll try and be more careful.”

She gently put her finger under his chin and tilted his head so that she could look him in the eye. “Tell me.”

He looked away. “Doctor Jackson thinks I need a reminder that I’m not to try and escape.”

“A reminder? Do you mean he told you to make them worse?” Alison was clearly baffled. 

“No, he, um, he reopens them. Like, he puts his hands on either side of my feet,” Mike reached down and demonstrated for her, “and he kind of pulls, and puts his nails into the gap to open it up.”

She stared at him, searching his face for any evidence that he was lying. Eventually, she nodded. “Well, I’m sure he has very good reasons for that. But in the absence of any instructions to the contrary, I’m going to clean you up and redress them, OK?”

He stared at her, feeling tears prickling at his eyes. He shook his head, sharply, blinking them back. He hadn’t cried yet and wasn’t about to start now just because of a small, basic level of kindness. 

“Thank you.” It came out as a whisper, but she heard it clearly enough. “You’re welcome.”

As Alison busied herself cleaning and redressing his feet, Mike felt his confusion at her actions grow. 

“I don’t understand.”

“What’s that, honey?”

“I don’t understand you. I can tell you’re a good person. You’re the only one here who has shown me any kindness and I can see how hard you want to do the right thing. So how can you stand by while he…. How can you support him? Please, help me understand.”

She finished the dressings and nudged his arm. “Shift over.” He moved over to the other side of the bed and she sat down next to him, starting up the tablet on her lap.

“Doctor Jackson is a good man. I honestly believe that. No, don’t interrupt me. I want to try and help you to see what I see.

“My parents had such a fairy tale wedding. Some people had been cynical, thinking an omega and a beta wouldn’t work out, but they just went right ahead. They were in love!

“They’d barely been married a year the first time he cheated on her with an alpha. She found out, of course, and threatened to leave him. He was distraught. He begged and begged for a second chance. Then a third, then a fourth. Eventually she couldn’t take it anymore and left, with me and my brother. I was ten the last time I saw him. 

“When I was twelve, he died of a drugs overdose. The police said it was an accident, but my mother… she knew. He just couldn’t live with himself any longer. She didn’t blame him, not really. She just couldn’t give him what he needed. He needed an alpha to take him in hand.” She tried to wipe her eyes inconspicuously. “I learnt from a very early age that omegas need an alpha. It’s not their fault, it’s just the way they’re made.” 

Mike covered her hand with his, and squeezed, considering how to respond. After the silence had stretched on for more than a minute, he spoke, hesitantly. 

“I’m so sorry that that had to happen to you, and your parents. But you have to know that not all omegas are like that. I can’t know why your dad acted as he did, but I do know that it’s possible for beta and omega couples to be happy. We don’t all need alphas to make every decision for us.”

Alison shook her head. “You say that now, but it will be different when you’ve bonded. You’ll wonder how you ever managed before.”

“I’m not going to be bonded. I’m being ‘claimed’. It’s not the same thing.”

She waved her hand vaguely in the air. “Semantics. I know that the idea of alphas ‘claiming’ omegas is very old fashioned and you young ones prefer to call it bonding but it’s really the same thing.”

“Is it? It’s not like I’m getting a say in it. When I’ve imagined bonding before it’s always involved me being a willing participant.”

Alison looked at him shrewdly. “Huh. I’m pretty sure I remember you saying that you’d never thought about bonding before.”

Mike blushed as he realised his mistake. “Come on. I’ve just spilled my personal issues everywhere, it’s your turn.” 

“It’s not really anything.”

“Uh huh. But it’s enough for you to lie about it when we met.” She considered him for a second. “I tell you what. How about I make you a promise? Whatever you tell me now is just between us, OK? I promise I won’t tell Doctor Jackson. Fair?”

When he still didn’t answer, she elbowed him hard. “Oh come on, how bad can it be?”

Rolling his eyes, Mike finally cracked a smile. After all, she was right; it didn’t really matter now, did it?

“Ok, there was this guy...”

“I knew it! I couldn’t believe someone as sweet as you would never have had a romance.”

He blushed again. “That’s just it, we didn’t. He’s just so far out of my league it was never even a question. He’s smart, and he’s gorgeous, and… he likes to pretend that he doesn’t have a heart, but actually he has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.”

“He sounds like quite the catch. I assume he’s an alpha?”

Mike laughed at the thought of a beta Harvey. “He’s, like, the uber-alpha. I’ve seen him reduce other alphas to wrecks with just a look.”

“So is he bonded?”

“No, I’m not sure he’s ever even been tempted. He, um, he has his own family issues. But that’s really not my place to tell.” 

This time it was Alison who placed her hand on his. “Were you in love with him?”

Mike huffed a laugh. “Straight to the point. I don’t know. I think I could have been. He’s so easy to fall for…” He fell silent, stroking Reggie’s head as the puppy slept on his lap. 

She reached around him and gave him a squeeze. “Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t believe that he was out of your league. I bet he’d have been lucky to have you.”

He shook his head, and when he spoke it was with a deep bitterness. “It doesn’t matter now, anyway, does it? I’m going to be claimed by someone who’s crippling me to prevent me from running away from him.”

“Michael, I know you don’t believe me, but you have to trust me. It will be different when you’re bonded to him. I know he’s scaring you, but when you’re bonded you will _want_ to be with him, and he’ll want to treat you right. You’ll see. I’m sure of it. He’s a good man at heart.” 

Mike turned his head to look at her, but she wasn’t looking at his face; she was gazing down at his bandaged feet. Shaking her head suddenly, as if to dislodge an unwelcome thought, she smiled brightly at him. “Now, let’s get this thing on, it’s nearly time for the Senator’s speech.”


	12. Chapter 12

Harvey had never suffered from claustrophobia, but ten minutes from when the speech was due to start he needed some air. Nodding to the security guards, he stepped outside the front of Pearson Spector and was trying to weigh up if he had time to grab a hotdog when he spotted Lord Graham leaning standing about ten yards, puffing on a cigar. Seeing Harvey, he smiled and held out a silver cigar case to him. 

“No, thank you. I’d have presumed a man of medicine like yourself would know better.” Harvey grinned at him. 

“Oh, you’d be surprised, Mr Specter. I’ve never checked on the statistics over here, but back in the motherland doctors have a higher rate of smoking than the populous at large.” He gestured with the case expansively. “At least these are preferable to my old twenty-a-day habit. These days you can’t do anything without it causing you cancer, if you believe the newspapers; we have to hang on to some of our indulgences, otherwise what joy is there in living?”

“You’re right, of course. I’m sure my own physician would disapprove of the amount of scotch I drink, no matter how fine it is.”

“Is that your sole indulgence then?” Here, the lord looked Harvey up and down, meaningfully. “I would put you at a good five years younger than your actual age, so I’m guessing there aren’t many vices that you allow yourself.”

“I think you’d be surprised.” Both men laughed, but Harvey became sober suddenly. “I have been wondering lately if you’re right.”

“Oh? About what?”

“What you just said about indulging yourself. I think maybe I’ve been too quick to deny myself what I really want. There’s always some reason not to do it just yet, always a reason to think ‘not today, maybe next time’. And then there suddenly isn’t a next time and it’s too late.” He shook his head suddenly, as if clearing the thought. “I’m sorry, I’m not generally given to offloading my personal issues onto strangers.”

Lord Graham was looking at him, thoughtfully. “No, I imagine you’re not.” He smiled. “Maybe there’s a lesson here for both of us to be more spontaneous, eh?” He gestured back to the door. “Shall we?”

The two men headed back up to the office in contemplative silence and headed to the library, where they found everyone else already gathered. As well as Jessica and Donna, Lord Graham’s two colleagues from the Omega Rights Organisation were also there, along with Louis and Rachel. Harvey realised to his surprise that out of all of them it was Louis who looked the most nervous; the reason became clear as they entered the room, straight into an argument. 

“I should have called her back before this. Who knows what might be about to happen down there, and she’s right in the middle of it. How could you allow this to happen, Jessica?”

“Louis, sit down. There is no evidence whatsoever that Katrina is any kind of danger. If there was, you have my absolute word that I would have got her out of there in a heartbeat. As far as we know, all that’s going on is a campaign speech. If, as we suspect, Senator Mitchell announces the supposed ‘omega plot’, Katrina is an alpha and has no links to it. Having her there means that if anything does happen she can hopefully warn us. It does you credit that you are showing actual concern for your associate, but for the moment, please – calm down and be quiet.” 

Chastened, Louis sat down next to Rachel, who put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

Jessica turned to the new arrivals. “There’s been a 15 minute delay apparently, some security issue.”

“Real or imaginary?”

Seated next to Jessica, Elizabeth snorted at this. “It could be either. Lord knows the man is unpopular enough to be a genuine target without having to make up bullshit ones.” 

Harvey walked over to where Donna sat with an empty chair beside her, and whispered “Thanks for saving me a spot in class.”

“Who would I have to pass notes to otherwise?” She turned serious. “Have you calmed down from your earlier tantrum?”

“Yes mom.” He sighed. “I know I was out of order with Jessica. But it’s so damn frustrating. There’s all this… bullshit going on, and none of it is helping us find Mike.”

She took his hand in hers. “I know. But we _will_ find him.”

“If we don’t…”

“We will. I’m Donna. When am I wrong?”

He squeezed her hand gratefully, not for the first time wishing he had her confidence. 

-

The reporters currently stationed at the Alpha Centre were filling the delay with various facts and figures about the Senator and the Centre itself. Mike was impressed; the difference between the Alpha Centre and the ORO’s headquarters couldn’t be more pronounced, with the ORO currently filling up an old, slightly run-down office block downtown. The Centre, by contrast, was a purpose built architectural wonder, all sleek glass and steel. In Mike’s, admittedly currently biased, mind, it was just another example of the difference in status between the two groups. 

“Reggie, stop that.” Mike tapped the puppy on his nose to try and distract him from gnawing on his bad paw. Reggie gave him a very pathetic look and whined. “I know it hurts, little guy.” He turned to Alison, who was sitting next to them on the bed. “He wants me to fix it and doesn’t understand why I can’t.”

She reached over him, picked up Reggie gently, and started examining his paw closely. The little beagle whined again when she squeezed it gently, and wriggled to get out of her hold. Sighing, she handed him back to Mike, where he attempted to bury himself in his t-shirt. 

“Michael, I know you won’t want to hear this, but his paw is pretty bad. The bones are rubbing together, and as he grows it’s going to get worse.”

“If you’re about to suggest what I think you are, then…”

“Hold up, cowboy. I’m not going to suggest putting him to sleep – I know you wouldn’t let me.”

Mike hugged Reggie close to him, fully aware that if she decided to do just that he wouldn’t have any say. 

“However. We do need to do something, and I think it would be best if we amputated.”

“There must be another option.”

“I don’t think so, kiddo.” She put her arm around his back and pulled him into a side hug. “If we operate, there’s a 90% chance it wouldn’t work and it would probably make things worse. We can’t leave him as he is, always in pain. You wouldn’t want that for him, would you?”

Mike’s voice was barely above a whisper. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“If we amputate it, he’d have no more pain and it would take no time at all for a smart puppy his age to get used to having three legs. I bet he could still beat either of us in a race!”

Mike looked down at his own bandaged feet and laughed hollowly. “Not hard right now.” He swallowed hard, and lifted Reggie up in front of his face to look into his eyes. “What do you think, little guy? Think you can still be as awesome on three paws?” Suspended in the air, the pup stuck his tongue out as far as it would go, waggling his legs as if to swim through the air near enough to lick Mike’s face. 

“I think that’s your answer.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “I guess it is. Will you do it?”

“I’ll get our head vet who looks after the animals to do it, he’s the best we have, but if you want me to I’ll scrub in and stay with him.”

“I’d appreciate that, and I bet Reggie would. Um… Dr Jackson won’t be anywhere near, will he?”

“He never concerns himself with the animals. I’ll speak to the vet as soon as all this is finished. We can hopefully have him all done by this evening. OK?”

“Ok.” He hugged the puppy again, and tried to swallow down the feeling that in some way he was betraying a friend.

“Oh, it’s starting.” She turned the volume up on the tablet just as in time to hear the rapturous applause from the audience of alphas as Senator Mitchell finally stepped up to the podium. 

-

Fifteen minutes into the speech, and some of the viewers in the Pearson Specter library were beginning to think they’d been wrong about the Senator making an announcement. So far there had been nothing new of much note; just the normal platitudes, campaign promises and vague anti-omega rhetoric; nothing they hadn’t all heard before. 

As he wrapped up, Elizabeth shook her head. “Maybe we were wrong. I was so sure that this would be the best opportunity to announce the conspiracy. The Alpha Centre is the perfect location with the perfect audience.”

Jessica turned away from the TV and frowned at the other woman. “Well, unless there was a coded message in all that propaganda, he’s going to have to find another opportunity. Do we know when his next speech is set for?”

Simon checked his diary. “Next Thursday, in Philadelphia. But it wouldn’t have anywhere near the impact.”

“Maybe he got cold feet and decided that fabricating a conspiracy wasn’t the greatest idea.” Rachel shrugged. “I mean, it’s not the smartest, is it? And I still think that people wouldn’t believe omegas capable of it. Crime by omegas, especially against alphas, is by far the lowest. Why would they suddenly become terrorists?” 

Lord Graham coughed into his hand. “Unfortunately, young lady, some people are always ready to believe the worst of others, no matter the evidence. And it would hardly be the first time a downtrodden group rose up and said ‘enough’, would it?”

Louis was the only one whose attention was still fixed on the TV in hopes of spotting Katrina, so he was the only one watching as the cameras followed the Senator out onto the steps of the Centre to meet the press. He reached over, past Jessica, and picked up the remote, turning the volume up higher over the background discussion, drawing their attention back.

They watched as Thomas Miller walked up to the front where the microphones were waiting and announced that the Senator would now take any questions. 

A tall, slim beta called out over the other voices, “Senator Mitchell, do you have any response to those who have accused you of hate speech and stirring up discontent between the alpha and omega communities?”

“Why yes, I do. Firstly, I would remind them that, in this great country, free speech is not just a privilege but a right to us all. I will not apologise for telling the truth! For too long we have been held back by the twin evils of political correctness and liberal inaction. Is it hate speech to say that people are different? Is it hate speech to suggest that all members of society are important, but that different roles fit different people? I say that it is common sense!

“As for stirring up discontent, I say good! People _should_ be discontent. For too long we have been all been forced to accept the delusion that anyone can do anything. Imagine growing up an omega, believing this lie, only to find out that it’s simply not true and they’ve been forced down a path they aren’t suited to! How much happier they could be if they only embraced their true nature!”

Miller stepped up again at this point and seemed about to point to another reporter but stopped and stared over the top of the mass of journalists. Just as the Senator was stepping forward to pick someone himself, Miller broke free from whatever trance he’d been in and yelled out suddenly.

“Everyone get down! He’s got a gun!”

Before most of those gathered had had a chance to react, Miller was jumping across the Senator, just as a shot rang out. 

And then all hell broke loose.


	13. Chapter 13

Mike and Alison stared at the tablet screen in shock. Right now, all that could be seen was chaos, with the cameraman obviously running with the rest of the crowd away from the gunshot; the image was basically a sea of jolting legs. Five seconds later, even this went black as the feed died. Alison quickly changed to a news website, which was not surprisingly focussing on the events. The anchor seemed as confused as those watching were. 

“We’re getting reports coming in of a shooting at the Alpha Centre where Senator Thomas Mitchell was speaking to the press. So far no casualties have been confirmed but eye witnesses have confirmed that at least three shots were heard.”

The anchor touched her earpiece theatrically, then continued. “And I’ve been told we can now go to our reporter on the scene, Steve Benson. Steve, can you hear me?”

The screen cut to a clean-cut alpha with too bright teeth, standing in the middle of a crowd some distance from the Centre. 

“Yes I can Diana, I’m speaking from about three hundred yards away from the steps of the Alpha Centre, where the shooting took place. The police have evacuated the area and are currently searching it for both the shooter and a possible explosive device, although they have not yet told us if they have information that would lead them to believe a bomb has in fact been placed. Right now, it looks as if the shooter was working alone, with all three confirmed shots coming from the same direction.”

“Thank you Steve. Has there been any word yet about casualties?”

“So far we have one confirmed fatality, but the victim’s name will not be made public until next of kin have been informed, so we don’t know if it’s the Senator himself or a bystander.”

“Thank you Steve, stay safe.” The camera returned to the anchor who, with seeming effort, arranged her features into a solemn expression. 

“If you’re joining us now, we can report that the shooting at the Alpha Centre has one confirmed fatality, with the welfare of Senator Mitchell currently unknown.”

Mike and Alison stared at each other in shock. “Oh my god.”

-

“Keep trying her cell. Let me know if you get through.” 

Louis nodded at Jessica and headed into the corridor where it was quieter, as the rest of the room continued to stare at the screen. 

“This is insane. What the hell is going on?” Rachel shook her head in disbelief. “I mean, everything he said is bullshit, but to try and shoot him…”

Harvey turned to Elizabeth. “I just had a kind of psychic premonition. I predict that when they find the shooter, it’s going to be an omega.”

“It’s strange, Mr Specter. I just had a very similar premonition.”

Simon looked between the two of them. “You think they’d stage their own assassination attempt just to blame us?”

Harvey shrugged. “We already thought they were inventing a conspiracy. It’s not a great leap to an actual attempt is it?”

“But… they’re saying there’s a fatality. An attempt is one thing, but to actually kill someone!” Simon stared at Elizabeth helplessly. She took his hand in hers and shook her head. 

“My dear, I hate to say this but I think you’ve always had too much faith in other people. Whereas I, I’m sad to say, am a cynical old woman. I can believe it only too well.”

Jessica turned to Lord Graham. “You’re very quiet, Charles. What are your thoughts?”

He was silent for several seconds as he considered his answer. “I am afraid I am inclined to agree with Elizabeth. It is a fact of biology that we alphas have a tendency to be ruthless in pursuit of what we want.” Here he smiled at Jessica and Harvey, without humour. “You two are lawyers, after all, so I’m sure I don’t need to convince you of that. And these gentlemen are politicians, possibly the only profession more likely to be ruthless and less likely to be trustworthy than lawyers. Yes, I have no trouble believing that this could be all a ruse.” He was interrupted suddenly by his cell phone ringing. 

“Do excuse me, I must take this.” He stepped out into the corridor just as Louis was returning, a look of utter relief on his face. 

“She’s OK. She was with the other members of staff at the entrance to the centre and was evacuated with the rest of the public.”

Jessica exhaled slowly. “Well, that’s the first piece of good news we’ve had. Does she have any information that could help?”

“She was bundled away pretty quickly, but she says she’s ninety-five percent sure that the fatality was Andrew Miller.”

Elizabeth gasped. “Oh no. I will never forgive him for what he did, but I wouldn’t have wished for this.” She collapsed into her chair, with Simon immediately rising to put his arm around her.

Lord Graham re-entered, looking grave. “That was my assistant. He’s been fielding calls from panicked omegas wondering what the impact of this is going to be. There hasn’t even been an official statement yet the verdict seems to be in.” He turned to Elizabeth and Simon. “I think it would be wise if I went to my office to see what I can discover. As the ORO’s alpha representative I might have more success with the police.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, yes, of course.”

With that, and a cursory nod to the lawyers, he hurried out. 

Jessica sat down in the chair by Elizabeth. “I think you two should stay here for the time being, just until we have a better idea what’s going on. Besides, you’ve had a shock. Donna? Can we please get our guests some tea?”

Donna nodded, and turned to leave, but as she did so she saw the ‘breaking news’ graphic flash across the screen and instead reached for the remote. 

“And I’ve just heard that the police spokesman is ready to make a statement, so we’re heading straight over to our reporter on the spot.”

The camera cut to a grave looking senior police detective standing in front of the assembled reporters. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for your patience. I can firstly confirm that today’s shooting has resulted in one fatality, that being Mr Andrew Miller, Senator Mitchell’s Chief of Staff. Our condolences obviously go out to Mr Miller’s family, and we can assure you that we will do everything in our power to bring his killer to justice. 

“I can also confirm that, around three minutes after the initial shooting, the Alpha Centre received a phone call warning of an explosive device that had been planted on the premises. A subsequent search of the building has uncovered said device, and our team of bomb disposal experts have now rendered it inoperable. We believe that there are no further explosive devices on the premises and are confident that the current threat is now over. Thank you.”

The reporters as one started shouting questions, inaudible to those watching, until an aide whispered something into the detective’s ear. He nodded, held his hands up and gestured for quiet, which, eventually, happened. 

“This is an ongoing investigation, so the information I can give you is unfortunately limited.” The clamour returned, forcing him to shout over them to make himself heard. “HOWEVER…” he paused as a semblance of quiet returned. “However. I can confirm that during the call made to warn of the explosive device, an organisation called the Omega Liberation Army claimed responsibility for both the device and the shooting. Right now, that’s the only information I can give you. Thank you for your time.”

Ignoring the renewed shouts and questions from the mob of journalists, the detective was ushered into a waiting police car and drove away. 

-

“This is bad isn’t it?” Mike was hugging a wriggling Reggie to his chest, the pup not understanding why his master was holding him so tightly and so far away from the chew toy resting on his lap. 

“It isn’t good.”

He turned to her, his confusion written all over his face. “Is this what Dr Jackson meant? Is this why everything is going to change?”

“I don’t know Michael. I don’t understand. How could they have known?”

Mike didn’t reply. He had quickly reached the same conclusion that those gathered at Pearson Specter had; this was all planned. He knew, however, that there was no point in saying this to Alison, so instead said “What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of this group…” she was distracted at this point by her phone buzzing, and pulled it out her pocket to see Dr Jackson’s number showing. 

“Doctor…. Yes doctor. Yes I saw. I’m actually with him now.” She frowned. “Do you think that’s nec… Sorry. Yes. Yes of course.” She checked her watch. “An hour. Yes, I’ll make sure. Goodbye.”

Mike watched her switch her cell back off and put it in her pocket, and waited to see what the order was, but she just sat there silently. 

“Alison?”

She started at this, and looked up at him, the expression on her face immediately alarming him with the obvious concern she was showing. 

“What’s wrong?”

She immediately smiled, too brightly, at him. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. That was Dr Jackson. He’s coming back to see you. I know he wasn’t due, but today’s not really gone how anyone was expecting, has it?”

Mike had his doubts about that, but nodded slowly at her. “What did he say?”

“He just gave me some instructions. I guess he’s going to start on some tests a little early, as he’s here.” She hopped off the bed and walked over to the cupboard, fumbling with her keys to unlock it. Mike was getting the distinct impression she didn’t want to meet his eyes. 

“Okay… But that’s normal, right? I mean you’ve said before, he’s got my best interests at heart, right?”

Still not turning around, she nodded. “That’s right! Absolutely. He’s asked you to be fully restrained, and obviously the blindfold will be on…”

Mike shuddered. Nothing good could come from the restraints, but he’d coped before. If it was more electro-shock torture or even more forced blow-jobs, he could cope. He’d have to. 

Alison finally turned back. “Why don’t you lie down, okay?”

He nodded at her, knowing there was no point refusing. At best, it would delay everything. At worst, it would result in a visit from the orderlies, something he had no wish to repeat. 

As she fixed his wrists above his head, Reggie curled up against his chest and started chewing his paw. Mike pulled at his restraints, futilely. “Reg, come on, stop that.” He turned to Alison, upset. “I can’t stop him like this.”

She finished pulling the buckle on his ankles taut, pinning them firmly together. “I know, honey. Remember what we talked about? I’m going to take Reggie with me, now.”

She turned again to the cupboard and took something out that Mike couldn’t see. Sighing, she sat down beside him. 

“I’m sorry honey, Doctor Jackson has asked that I sedate you before he comes in.”

At this, Mike started to panic. “What? Why? He doesn’t usually... I’m trussed up like a fucking thanksgiving turkey, why do I need to be sedated?” He could see now that she was holding a hypodermic syringe. 

“I don’t know, sweetheart. You have to try to be calm though.” Putting the needle down, she gently fixed his blindfold.

“Please. Please Alison, you have to help me.”

“I can’t…”

“Please, I can’t do this, I’m trying to cope, I’m trying to be strong, but I can’t, I can’t do this.” Mike was getting more and more hysterical, so she started stroking his hair gently. 

“Shhh, shh. I know it’s hard, I know. I wish this was easier for you. I promise you, once you’ve bonded it will all be different. He’ll treat you well, I know he will.”

“Please, Alison, please, you have to help me. I can’t bond with him, I can’t. He’ll kill me.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. I promise, it will be okay. I’m going to take Reggie now, alright? And when you wake up later, when Dr Jackson has been, I’ll be back with him, and he’ll be all better. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

Mike just shook his head, his voice cracking as he carried on begging her to help. Swallowing the lump she could feel in her throat, she picked the needle up again and plunged it into his arm, waiting until he finally fell still and his breathing evened out. 

Bending over him to pick up Reggie, she pressed her lips against his forehead and whispered, unheard, “I’m sorry.” 

Taking hold of the pup, she left the room without looking back at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, I'm sorry too? I know you're all going to hate me for that one.
> 
> (sorry!)


	14. Chapter 14

The Pearson Specter library hadn’t seen this many people crammed into it since the last mock trial. As word had filtered down that not only had there been an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate, but that Pearson Specter was in some, currently undefined way, connected with it, more and more had found reason to gather in front of the television and work had ground to a halt. 

“I should really insist that everyone get back to work. Gaping at the rolling news isn’t going to achieve anything.”

“I doubt they’d be getting anything done back at their desks either. The associates are worse gossips than the secretarial pool.”

“I take offense at that. We don’t gossip. We… exchange information. There’s a difference.”

Jessica rolled her eyes at both of them. “Fine. You’re probably right anyway. Although let it be noted that if I were to send everyone back to work, I would expect your support as named partner.”

“Of course! When have I not given you my support?”

“You really want to go there now?”

“Well…”

“I hate to interrupt, but it looks like something is happening. Little-Miss-Botox seems to be getting excited about something. I think, anyway – it’s hard to tell when someone has no facial expressions.”

The three joined the mass of associates and partners in front of the TV, Donna tapping Louis on the shoulder for an update. 

“Apparently they’re expecting someone to come out and make a statement. The bimbo,” here he gestured to the screen, “doesn’t seem to know who or what, but I spoke to Katrina and she thinks that the Senator will be out to speak in the next couple of minutes.”

“That can’t end well.” Jessica looked over to the other side of the room where her clients were seated, away from both the television and the mass of lawyers. She turned back to the TV and called out, “Whichever one of you associates won the inevitable bread fight for the remote control, please turn it up, and then I want quiet from everyone.”

An exceedingly smug looking associate standing just off to the right immediately responded, “Of course Ms Pearson, it would be a pleasure, anything I can…”

She waved her hand at him, shutting him up effectively. “Just turn it up”

The anchor was holding two fingers to her ear, presumably to let everyone know that something of vital importance was about to happen. 

“If you are just joining us here, we are about to go over to our correspondent on the ground at the Alpha Centre, where we are expecting a statement from the Office in charge of the investigation in the next few minutes. However, I have just this second been informed that Senator Mitchell himself is about to make a statement, so let’s go straight over to Steve Benson. Steve, can you hear me?”

“Yes I can Diana. We’ve been waiting for around half an hour for the Police Chief to make a statement, but a rumour has just reached us that Senator Mitchell will be appearing any moment to make a statement. This would appear to confirm earlier reports that he was not wounded in the attack. And in fact here he is, obviously without his right hand man Andrew Miller, for the first time on this campaign trail for such a tragic reason. Let’s hear what the Senator has to say.”

In fact it was a tall alpha woman who approached the hastily assembled podium that had been erected and was currently surrounded on three sides by a sea of journalists. 

“Good afternoon. Senator Mitchell will be out momentarily to give a statement on today’s events. Given the traumatic nature of what’s happened, Senator Mitchell will _not_ be taking any questions and I would ask you all to respect that.”

The alpha ignored the inevitable questions being shouted out to her and instead stood away from the microphone as the Senator came out. Whatever else had happened in the couple of hours since the shooting, he obviously hadn’t had time to change, as he was still wearing the suit from earlier, albeit without the jacket which had been covered with Miller’s blood. Some spatters could still be seen on the crisp white shirt, and for thirty seconds the air was filled with the sounds of photographs being taken, interspersed with applause for the Senator’s bravery in appearing in public again so soon. 

Eventually, Senator Mitchell held up his hands for silence. 

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, and my fellow Americans watching at home. 

“My advisors told me not to speak to you right now. They told me it wasn’t safe to be in public right now. They told me to wait until the brave men and women of the NYPD have completed their investigations and caught the man who was trying to kill me. 

“My advisors, as always, have my best interests at heart. They want me to be safe. But they are wrong. It is more than my wish to speak to you now. It is my duty. 

“During the past ninety minutes, I have made the investigating officers aware of some information that perhaps I should have passed on earlier. Through the dedicated work of my second-in-command…. No, my best friend, Andrew Miller, I have been aware of certain rumours pertaining to the omega community, and the Omega Rights Organisation in particular. Rumours suggesting that there are a number of people belonging to the ORO who have decided that they will no longer live happily in peace with alphas and betas, but would wish to declare war on them.”

There was an audible gasp at this from the assembled press, although whether the surprise was at the idea of an omega conspiracy or that the Senator had information on it was unclear. 

He continued. “For over four weeks, I have had information about this group, and I have done nothing. Why? Because I couldn’t find it in myself to believe it possible. I have spoken out before about how omegas have tried to fit themselves into roles that they are genetically unsuited for. I campaigned against them being allowed on the front line in our armed forces. But now I see that I was wrong.”

The journalists were completely silent now, staring at the Senator in astonishment. Was he about to cave immediately to whatever demands this new terrorist organisation had? The answer came swiftly. 

“I believed that they shouldn’t fight because they couldn’t have the heart for it, the killer instinct. I thought they would turn and run and leave their comrades to die. And now I see just how mistaken I was. Omegas don’t lack killer instincts. They have merely been biding their time. For too long now, they have been usurping positions that by rights should belong to alphas and betas. They have been infiltrating every part of our lives, from our police forces, to politics; they have power now that they have never had before. And yet it isn’t enough. 

I made the mistake of underestimating them, and as a direct consequence of my mistake, my friend…” The Senator’s voice started to crack at this. “My dear, dear friend, who tried so hard to warn me, is gone.”

He took a moment to compose himself, then looked up again at the crowd with hard eyes. “Well Andrew Miller is not going to have died in vain. I believe that our grandparents and great-grandparents made a mistake in bringing omegas into our lives. I believe our parents made a mistake in giving them suffrage and allowing them to have a power that they simply are not made for. 

“Omegas were created for one reason. To halt the decline in birth rates. It is my belief that this is where they belong. We cannot allow them to continue being a threat to the lives of all good alphas and betas. 

“So I am here now to tell you that, not only will I continue my campaign for presidency, I am going to promise you that, once elected, I will make it my goal to root out every single member of the Omega Liberation Army, and any other organisation that threatens the wellbeing of this great nation. 

“I am in no doubt that the assassin’s aim was to silence me before I could reveal what I know. Andrew Miller saved my life today at the cost of his own. I owe it to him, to the risks he took in obtaining that information in the first place, and to every alpha and beta who has ever had cause to resent the special treatment given to omegas up to now. I say to you now – No more.”

The tall alpha who had introduced him reappeared to usher him away before the reporters could start yelling questions. Instead, some broke into a spontaneous round of applause; peppered amongst the crowd, a few face were looking distinctly uneasy with the way the speech had gone. 

“So there we have the Senator’s announcement, Diane, and it seems that Senator Mitchell has declared all-out war against omegas.”

“Indeed so, Steve, and after the events of today he’d have my vote.” She glared off camera at her omega producer who was staring at her, opening mouthed in horror. “And we can now go to the police spokesman who is ready to give a statement.”

The camera cut to the same senior officer who had made the earlier statement, now looking considerably more nervous as he faced the assembled press, having heard the Senator’s statement. 

“Good afternoon. I would first like to take this opportunity to reassure members of the public that we are doing everything in our power to locate the shooter, who we are positive was acting alone in this instance. 

“Furthermore, we will be speaking to Senator Mitchell at the earliest possible opportunity seeking details of the information he claims to have relating to a conspiracy by an omega organisation to perpetrate widespread terrorism. If this information turns out to be correct, we will act swiftly to neutralise any danger to the public.”

One of the journalists at the front of the scrum shouted out at this:

“How long will that take? What about any danger to the public right now? There could be more bombs planted anywhere that alphas gather!”

“If you will let me finish… In the meantime, we are undertaking certain initiatives to maintain order whilst investigations are underway. 

“Firstly, we are at this moment taking control of the headquarters of the Omega Rights Organisation. I can confirm that all assets have been frozen, and no one will be allowed to enter the premises until our investigation is complete.”

Elizabeth and Simon sat there staring at the TV, stunned. Under her breath, Jessica whispered to Harvey “That’s our priority. They’re our clients; we need to know everything that gets taken out and especially who has access.”

Harvey nodded. “I’ll get right on it, although something tells me they aren’t going to be happy having lawyers descend.”

The police chief continued. “Secondly, and purely as a precautionary measure at this time, we are instigating a curfew effective from today until further notice. All un-bonded omegas must be off the streets by nine pm. If any omegas are found out after nine pm without a responsible alpha, they will be considered to be breaking the law and taken into custody. Thank you all, I shall of course keep you updated with any breakthroughs.”

“Holy shit.”

“Did they just make it illegal to be a single omega?”

“Only after nine…”

“And how long do you think that will last? People won’t stand for it.”

“You think? Why would people put themselves on the line for omegas?”

“You know, he kind of has a point. I mean, they were engineered to be breeders, right?”

“ENOUGH!” The room fell silent at Jessica’s voice. Ninety nine per cent of the time she could get people’s attention with little more than a raised eyebrow, so to her hear her use a raised voice was shocking. 

“Everyone listen to me, now. It’s 5pm, so I’m going to declare the work day officially over. Enjoy the early finish, it won’t happen again. I want all alphas and betas to go now. If you have an omega partner, or child, or anyone else you are responsible for, go find them and make sure they’re safe.

“Any omegas in the building I want in here now.” She turned to Donna. “Can you get the word out to the other departments, I don’t want to miss anyone. Make sure HR gives you a list of any omegas currently on staff. I want every single one in this room within the next twenty minutes.”

She looked around the room, all eyes fixed her on. On the edge of her vision, she saw one of the associates whisper something in the ear of the one standing next to him, who then seemed to be trying to supress a laugh. 

“Is there something funny you’d like to share gentlemen?”

The first associate paled slightly, glancing at his colleague for back up. He should have known better. “Um, he was just saying to me that he guessed you’d be firing all the omegas now, but that we should keep them on for R&R.” He blushed, glancing around the room for any support, but finding that the other associates seemed to prefer to look anywhere but him. 

“R&R?”

His brother in adversity spoke up now. “Yeah, you know? Rest and relaxation. Well, less rest I guess… I mean, more…”

She cut him off. “I know what R&R means.” 

Turning back to the rest of the room, she waved her hand at the door. “Did I not tell you to go? Go. Now.”

As the library started to empty, she called out “Oh, one thing. As you two seem so keen on having rest and relaxation, feel free to empty your desks before you go. You’re no longer employed here, and if I have any say, you’ll never get a job in law again in this city. Now get out.”

Jessica stood there, hands on hips, glaring at the door until the last partner had left, leaving only the original group gathered there. Harvey was speaking quietly to Simon and Elizabeth, outlining his plans to try and protect them and the ORO as much as possible. She turned, only to be confronted by Rachel, practically vibrating with rage. 

“How DARE they! How dare they treat us like… like animals!”

“Rachel, I know you’re upset but you need to calm down. I’ve dealt with it. They don’t work here anymore.”

Rachel scoffed, actually rolling her eyes at Jessica, which if nothing else showed her anger was currently overriding her survival instinct. 

“I’m not talking about those two jackasses. You think that’s a surprise? Every omega here learns pretty quickly how to deal with guys like them. I’m talking about the police. Banning us from being out without ‘supervision’? Do they think we’re _children_?”

Jessica shook her head, temporarily filing away the knowledge that harassment had apparently been going on under her nose. 

“I know. I won’t say I understand, because that’s clearly not true, but I can guarantee you that we will be doing everything we can to stop this. But right now, you need to calm down because being this worked up won’t help anyone. Harvey!”

Harvey looked up from where he was still deep in conversation with Simon and Elizabeth. 

“That bottle of scotch you keep in your office for special occasions? Go get it. I’m pretty sure we could all use a drink.”

He opened his mouth to argue, and shut it immediately seeing the look on her face. “One bottle of expensive scotch coming up.”

Walking out, he was met by Donna accompanied by four very nervous looking omegas. Rumours had been floating around the firm like crazy, especially since Jessica had given the go-ahead for all alphas and betas to leave, but they didn’t as yet know why they’d been summoned. Realising this, Jessica immediately turned on the charm and smiled warmly at them as Donna handed her a piece of paper. 

“Excellent timing Donna, as always. Harvey has just gone to fetch his prize scotch so we can all have a drink to relax ourselves, given how trying today has been.”

She turned to the omegas. “Now, I’m afraid I’m not familiar with you all, but I aim to change that. The reason I’ve called you in here is firstly to reassure you all of your places within Pearson Specter. I have always prided myself on this firm being at the forefront of equal employment rights. It has recently been made apparent to me that, sadly, things haven’t been quite as utopian as I’d thought. That stops now. My first and most important priority is the people who work for me. _All_ of them. Right now, the safety of the people in this room is what I’m concerned with.”

She glanced down at the names on the piece of paper that Donna had given her and frowned. Turning to the first omega, a petite woman who was standing shyly next to Rachel, she asked ‘You must be Kathy, right? One of our best paralegals, so I hear. Kathy, do you have an alpha you can call to pick you up? I am not willing to let any omega leave here on their own tonight.”

Kathy glanced at Rachel, who nodded at her to go ahead. “Yes Ms Pearson, I have a bondmate, but he doesn’t get off work for another two hours.”

“That’s OK Kathy, why don’t you give him a call and see when he can come pick you up? Until then you’re welcome to stay here and make yourself comfortable with Mr Specter’s scotch.”

Harvey made to protest but was stopped by a sharp elbow in the ribs from Donna, who looked like she was enjoying herself much more than was appropriate. He hissed in her ear “Just wait till she offers your stash of premium chocolate to them.”

“Oh Harvey”, she whispered back, “Even Jessica doesn’t know where I keep the good stuff.”

Jessica meanwhile had turned back to the others. “That goes for all of you. I want you all to contact an appropriate alpha and have them pick you up. If you don’t have one, let me know and I’ll make sure one of the alphas here will escort you. The same applies to coming to work tomorrow morning, and while this curfew is in effect, at least until we can be sure it’s safe. If for any reason we can’t arrange an alpha to be with you, call HR and let them know. Do not attempt to come here alone.”

The gathered omegas were looking increasingly alarmed during this speech, and Jessica suddenly realised that this may be scaring them more than she intended. She softened her gaze and spoke more gently. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to scare any of you. It’s entirely possible we’re overreacting. But as I said, you are my responsibility, and I mean to make sure that you’re safe.”

At this, they all visibly relaxed, clearly grateful for her support. It didn’t take much imagination to think of the alternative, inevitably being played out in workplaces across New York that night, where omegas would be being told that if they couldn’t get to work no matter what, then not to bother coming back. Jessica went through the rest of the names on her list, confirming that they all had someone to call, then turned to the final omega, a young man who she vaguely recognised from the associates pool. 

"Mr Fielding, right? One of our more promising third year associates.”

His nerves evident, he stammered in response “Y-yes Ms Pearson. Tim… Tim Fielding.”

“Alright Tim, I think there must be a mistake with the HR paperwork as I don’t have you on my list as an omega…”

She left the statement hanging, the question unspoken, but he understood and hung his head. 

“I’m sorry Ms Pearson. I… I lied on my HR forms. I told them I was a beta.”

“It’s OK Tim. I can promise you now there will be no repercussions for your mistake. But I would like to know why.”

Tim looked around the room, eyes settling briefly on Harvey, then back to Jessica.

“When I joined Pearson Specter, there weren’t any omega associates. I mean, I heard the whole spiel when I had the interview about inclusiveness, but everyone says that, right? I mean, everyone pretends to support equal rights, but it’s still the white, male alphas who get promoted. Especially in law firms. And I’d heard some real horror stories at Harvard about omegas being passed over time and time again, or not being hired at all, and I just… It just seemed easier to lie.”

Jessica frowned, but nodded. She knew she could leave it at that, but like a scab that you couldn’t help picking, she needed to know. “And what did you find when joined us? I want you to be honest with me.”

He paused for a long time, looking around the room for support and finding it when Rachel nodded at him. 

“I’ve… I’ve never regretted lying, Ms Pearson. I’m sorry. I mean, I’ve heard things from other firms, and I know that Pearson Specter is a lot better than most. But… you got a flavour of the typical things some of the associates say about omegas from those two earlier, right? It’s not exactly the first time any of us have heard things like that. The paralegals all get hit on whatever, but it’s worse for the omega ones.” He gestured at Rachel. “I’m pretty sure Ms Zane could fill you in better than I can.”

Jessica nodded. “Alright, thank you Tim, have you got …”

“Wait.” Harvey had stood up and walked over to the associate. Tim had started looking slightly more relaxed as it became apparent that Jessica wasn’t about to fire him, but now Harvey was looming over him with his face set in a frown his nerves hit him again. 

“Mr Specter?”

“You said there were no omega associates when you joined Pearson Specter, but there are now. Mike Ross is an omega and he’s been open about it, and he’s never suffered any harassment.”

Tim looked utterly miserable now, looking between Jessica and Harvey, weighing up who would be more angry with his response and whether it was better to lie or tell the truth. In the end, he decided Jessica was scarier than Harvey, and besides, wasn’t honesty the best policy?

“I’m sorry Mr Specter, but that’s not the case. I mean, it wasn’t that bad, it was just kind of like the usual hazing that goes on, but it could get a little bit more carried away I guess.”

Harvey’s glare could cut through glass. “Hazing? Carried away?”

The unfortunate associate shifted under the lazer stare. “Mostly it was just name calling, you know? I think there were some emails, like sending omega porn to him. It was nothing he couldn’t deal with!”

“If I find out you were a part of this…”

“No sir! I would never… I mean, I couldn’t stand up for him, in case they figured me out, but I never joined in!”

Harvey turned away in disgust and, deciding what he really needed right now was some air, headed towards the roof, Donna in tow. 

Jessica sighed. “Mr Fielding, thank you for being so candid. Do you have someone you can call?”

“Yes Ms Pearson, my brother is an alpha, I’ll go call him.” At that, he rushed out of the room, clearly relieved to get out of there more or less in one piece. The other omegas had all now gathered in a corner, with Louis of all people, who was gleefully pouring them large shots of Harvey’s scotch. 

She walked over to Simon and Elizabeth who were sitting quietly, having watched the discussion unfold. 

“I’m sorry you two had to witness that. I guess I have a lot more work to do than I thought.”

Elizabeth smiled and patted her hand. “Nowhere is perfect, especially a company that employs this many people. You can’t be everywhere at once. But now you know there’s a problem you can try and fix it. Wanting to make it right, that’s the important thing.”

“Thank you. If I was in your position I doubt I’d be as accommodating.” She paused, considering. “I want to be straight with you both. I am very concerned for your safety. The ORO is currently a no-go area, and you’ve been very publicly associated with today’s assassination attempt. Now, as your legal representative, I have to advise you that the best thing to do is to declare yourselves at the nearest station and trust in the law to see you right. However… as your friend, I would not think badly of you if you decided to leave the state and go somewhere safe.”

Elizabeth glanced at Simon, who nodded almost imperceptibly at her. Turning back to Jessica, she smiled sadly. “Thank you, I appreciate your advice as always. But where would we go? Our lives are here. Our families. And what about the omegas who depend on us, who have nobody else?”

“I understand. I’ve never asked… Are either of you bonded? do you have an alpha who can support you in this?”

Elizabeth stared at her for several seconds before suddenly breaking out in peals of laughter, to Jessica’s astonishment. 

“Oh my dear, I thought you knew. We are bonded. To each other.” At this, Simon took Elizabeth’s hand and held it up with his, showing the matching rings they wore.

“Oh my god. How have I never noticed that?”

“We see what we expect to see. Elizabeth and I have been together for over twenty years.”

For once, Jessica was speechless. It was not completely unheard of for omegas to form bond bonds with each other, but it was incredibly rare, much rarer than alpha/alpha relationships, although generally more successful when they did happen (alpha/alpha bonds almost always ended badly). Eventually she settled with “Well I guess that answers the question of if you have an alpha to go to.”

“It rather does, doesn’t it? But don’t worry about us. While you were dealing with your omegas, we were arranging to go to one of our satellite offices. They have rooms available for when omegas are in need; not luxury, but more than enough for our purposes. And we’ll be in exactly the right place to help if we’re needed.”

She stood suddenly, Simon following immediately. 

“In fact, we better be heading off now if we’re to beat the curfew.”

“Take my car. You may have trouble getting a cab tonight, and I expect I’ll be here for a good couple of hours yet.”

Elizabeth shook her head, but this time Simon spoke up. 

“That’s very kind of you, I think we will take you up on that offer. Neither of us are getting any younger, and I don’t think I fancy a lengthy walk on the streets of New York tonight.”

Elizabeth waved her hand in concession. “Thank you Jessica. I am sorry for dragging you and your firm into all of this, but I am glad that we have your support. I don’t know what we would do without it.” She took Simon’s arm, looking for the first time a little unsteady on her feet as Jessica watched them go. 

-

On the roof, Harvey was pacing backwards and forwards angrily. 

“You know, I think that poor little associate might have needed a change of pants.” Donna’s tone was conversational, but there was a hint of reproach in it that Harvey didn’t fail to notice. 

“Maybe he should grow a fucking spine then. I can’t believe Jessica told him his job was safe. Why should we employ someone too damn scared to help in case it puts his own neck at risk?”

“Jesus Harvey, give me a break. He’s an associate. You know what they’re like, they’d all sell their mothers if it got them fast tracked to junior partner. It’s a miracle he didn’t join in with the others. Why don’t you stop shooting the messenger and focus instead on whoever was responsible for the actual harassment?”

Harvey turned and glared at her. “Or how about you tell me why this is the first I’ve heard of it. I mean, you’re Donna right, you know everything. Did _you_ know about this? Because if not, you’re obviously slipping, something like this going on under your nose! And if you knew…”

“Wait a goddamn minute. Do you really want to go there? Because yes, I knew there was trouble with the associates giving the omegas a hard time, and yes I knew that included Mike, but did it occur to you that he didn’t WANT you to know? You made it crystal clear very early on that he needed to fight his own battles, so that’s what he did. What would you have done if he’d come to you and said he needed help because the other associates were picking on him? You’d have laughed in his face and told him to put his big boy pants on. And you know it, so why don’t you tell me what this is really about? Why are you so angry?”

“Because it’s my fault!”

Donna stared at him in shock. “What? How can you think that?”

“I just had to stand there, in that room, listening to Jessica assure those omegas that they would be safe. That they were under her protection, her responsibility. Well Mike was MY responsibility. He was under MY protection, and look where that’s got him!”

Donna approached him slowly, putting her hands on his shoulders. “Harvey, listen to me. I know you’re worried about him. So am I. But there was nothing you could have done. Nothing you _should_ have done that you didn’t. We couldn’t have known he was in danger.”

“I should have known…”

“You can’t be everywhere and know everything. I know you think you’re god, but you’re not actually omniscient.”

He stared at her helplessly, not knowing what to say. She returned his gaze, searching for something in his face, when suddenly her eyes widened in realisation.

“Oh Harvey. You’ve finally figured it out, haven’t you?”

He pulled her into a hug, clinging on tightly. “I think I’m in love with him, Donna. What am I going to do?”

“You mean what are _we_ going to do. We’re going to find him, Harvey. We’re going to find him and we’re going to bring him home.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be extra-aware of the warnings on this chapter, guys.

By the time Harvey and Donna returned to the library, Jessica was its sole occupier, sipping from her tea whilst watching the rolling news coverage. 

“Everyone else gone?”

“Rachel’s father picked her up about a half hour ago, she was the last to go.”

Harvey smirked. “I bet that was a fun meeting.”

“He didn’t come up, thankfully. Today has been trying enough without adding Robert Zane to the mix.”

Donna frowned. “I bet Rachel was thrilled at calling him. She doesn’t like asking him for anything at the best of times.”

“I am aware, but in this case it really couldn’t be helped. She’s a smart girl, she understood that. Is Ray here yet? I hope you’re planning on dropping Donna off as I have a feeling cabs are going to be hard to come by tonight.”

Harvey started to nod, but was immediately cut off by Donna. “Actually, I’m staying with Harvey tonight. It’s not fair to make Ray drive half way across Manhattan, and I doubt tomorrow will be any better, so it’s much easier this way.”

“Do I get a say in this?”

“Sure. You want to tell me no?”

“…. No, I was just checking.”

“Good. Oh, hey roomie – will you go grab my purse? I think I left it in my desk.”

Harvey rolled his eyes, muttering something about goddamn women and their purses, but obediently headed towards his office. As soon as he’d gone, Jessica turned to Donna. 

“You want to save Ray a trip? Really?”

“Well I could have claimed to be frightened to be alone, but we both know he wouldn’t have bought that. I don’t do fear, I instil it in others.”

“Fair point.” She put her cup down and sighed. “I can’t say I’m not relieved. Obviously my chief concern is for the omegas, but I’m worried about Harvey. He’s not himself right now, and I would hate for him to do something irrational.”

“Hence me being on babysitting duty. Don’t worry Jessica, we’re on the same page here.”

“Donna! Come on, Ray’s waiting! And tell Jessica her driver’s back.”

“On my way!”

As the women headed to the door, Donna paused and turned back to Jessica. “I know that there are larger issues going on here, and that it’s going to get really bad, but I keep thinking… Do you think there’s any hope? I mean, he might be alive, right?”

“I hope so. Despite what Harvey might think. But dwelling on what might be isn’t going to help either way. We just have to keep on, right now. Try and keep his mind off it tonight, OK?”

“That’s the plan. I can’t promise you won’t have a hungover Senior Partner tomorrow though.”

“Like it would be the first time for that.”

They stepped out of the building together, getting into their respective cars without looking back, so they didn't see the slender figure watching them from the shadows as they left, then heading back into the building. 

-

Mike woke to a sharp pain in his feet; the bandages had been removed and he could feel fingers with sharp nails digging in to the wounds. He tried to swallow down any sign of distress but couldn’t help the small whimper that escaped. 

“Ah, I thought that would get your attention. Time to wake up, boy, you’re missing all the fun.” Mike’s feet were released, and he had a moment to quickly assess what was happening; he was still restrained in the same way as Alison had left him, with his wrists firmly strapped to the metal rings above his head, but he immediately realised he was now completely naked. As panic started building, he felt the bed shift, and then a heavy weight press down on him; Dr. Jackson was straddling his chest, making it suddenly hard to breathe. 

“I hope I have your complete attention. I want to explain how things are, and how things are going to be, and I would be very upset if I had to repeat myself. Are you listening to me, boy?”

Mike, struggling to get enough air in his lungs, didn’t answer, so the next moment he felt his head being gripped hard and held still as the doctor slapped him hard. 

“I asked you a question. When I ask you something, you answer immediately, either ‘yes Doctor’ or ‘no Doctor’. Do you understand?”

“Yes Doctor!”

“Good boy. You see, you _can_ learn.” He let go of his head, and instead placed his hands on either side of his chest, stroking him rhythmically with his thumbs as he spoke. 

“While you’ve been asleep, everything has been going according to plan. A curfew is in place and soon all omegas will be required to have an alpha for their own protection. Aren’t you the lucky one that you’re going to have me?”

Mike shuddered, and squirmed beneath him, but this just made Jackson laugh; he pinched his nipples between his thumbs and forefingers and twisted hard, making Mike gasp in pain. 

“See? We’re going to have so much fun.”

His breathing was hard now, but he managed to gasp out “I don’t understand… The Senator….” 

The doctor released him and considered. “I’m feeling generous, so all right. What don’t you understand, boy?”

Mike took a second to try to breathe and get his words in order. “I don’t understand, why me? I’m nobody.” He didn’t get it. With all the omegas out there, why would someone like Doctor Jackson and a powerful man like the Senator both want to bond with him?

Jackson started to laugh. “Oh, is that what you’re wondering? Why you? Feeling sorry for yourself? Why couldn’t it be some other poor omega in this position?”

“No!”

The slap was hard and left his head ringing. 

“No what?”

“No, doctor! No, doctor!”

“That’s better. Let me explain things to you then. Do you think you’re the first pretty omega that our friend Senator Mitchell has decided to claim? Hmm? Do you think he’s been waiting for you all this time? By my count, you’re the eighth in the last eighteen months alone. I understand that when he visited you here he told you he could kill two birds with one stone, as it were, by making you his next target.” Jackson here ran his hand through Mike’s hair, stroking his head. “You’re just his type after all; pretty, blond, blue-eyed… Hardly surprising he decided to claim you. And who knows, if you pleased him enough maybe you’d last a while. The longest so far that I’m aware of managed nearly 6 weeks before being… discarded. They’ve all passed through here, and I’ve seen no difference in how he regards you.”

The hands went away, and Mike’s fleeting sense of relief was shattered when he heard the sound of a zipper, unbearably loud in the silent room. 

“Now, you want to know why I’d be interested in you? You’re right, I could have my pick. And of course, I’ve just told you that all Senator Mitchell’s previous toys have come through here. Why would I risk angering him for you?” 

The press of the doctor’s penis against his mouth made Mike shudder, but Jackson made no effort to force it in, simply rubbing it against lips. 

“The ironic thing is, you’re not as clever as you think are. Did you think you could hide it from me? That I wouldn’t know? Did you think I don’t do my own research into the subjects we get in here?”

Mike’s mind started to race, trying to figure out what the doctor knew. His automatic reaction was to assume he knew about his lack of degree somehow, but why would that matter to him? 

“The IQ test Doctor Williams had you do was cleverly done. She didn’t spot it, and she’s a bright girl in her own, naïve way. You’re a naughty boy for lying to her, by the way. I shall have to remember to punish you for that.”

The weight on his chest suddenly lifted as Jackson climbed off him. He felt a hand on his thigh and suddenly found himself flipped over, his arms now crossed above his head as he lay face down. He heard a click, then flinched as he felt a finger covered in cold liquid press against his asshole. As the finger breached him, he bit down hard on his bottom lip, determined to not make any noise which might encourage him, but he couldn’t stop the terror flood through him, and in his head all he could think was ‘I’ll taste better to him because I’m so afraid.”

As he slowly worked his finger in and out, Doctor Jackson carried on talking. 

“You see, the Senator wants something different to me. He wants a pretty toy to fuck when he chooses, until he gets bored and moves on to the next one. He has no vision. But I’m thinking of the future. I know why you’re special. I know all about your amazing gift. Are you aware that you’re unique? There’s never been a scientifically confirmed case of a mind like yours. Until now, of course. And now I want to find out if you can pass it on.”

The full meaning of what the doctor was saying hit Mike so suddenly that he gasped in horror, the physical discomfort temporarily forgotten. Jackson laughed again at his response. 

“Feels good does it? All omegas are whores really.” The finger was suddenly withdrawn, and Mike tensed waiting for its return with a second added, but nothing happened. Instead, Jackson carried on talking. 

“When your heat comes on, I will claim you, and I will breed you. Omegas were a genetic mistake, but maybe between us we can create the next step in our evolution.”

“No, please, wait! I’m not… I’m not in heat. You can’t… I can’t breed yet.” Mike’s desperation was making him frantic, struggling without heed of whether he would be punished for it. 

“I know that, boy. But our friend the Senator has decided he wants to celebrate today’s success, and has told me he’s coming to pick you up tomorrow. We can’t have that, now, can we?”

Mike felt the knee forced between his thighs, pushing his legs apart; his struggling stopped suddenly as he froze in horror as he felt the head of the doctor’s large member press against his hole; virgin though he was, he knew that he was nowhere near prepped enough for what was to come. 

“I can’t have him coming in and taking you away, now, can I? But I know the Senator, he won’t want damaged goods.”

He leant down over Mike’s back and turned his head sideways, licking the sweat on his cheek. “You taste so sweet. It saddens me to think you might not taste this good again. I shall have to think about how to keep things… fresh.”

He re-positioned himself so he was lying across Mike, pinning him down completely, and started to push in, but he found himself having difficulty. 

“God, you’re so tight. Were you waiting for the right alpha to come along? Were you saving yourself? Or are you one of those freaks who aren’t interested in alphas at all?”

Mike buried his head between his crossed arms, determined even through his terror to not give the Doctor the satisfaction of him crying. At his mention of waiting for the right alpha, a vision of Harvey flitted across his mind, but he pushed it down, refusing to allow the memory of his friend to be tainted by what was happening. 

He could feel the tip of Jackson’s penis pressing against him as he tried to force it through the tight ring of muscle. Strong hands suddenly gripped his hips, as he heard the doctor speak, drowning out the pounding of his own heart.

“I think that’s enough foreplay don’t you?”

As his hips were yanked back and Jackson thrust suddenly, finally breaching him, Mike let out an agonised scream, the pain filling him up as much as the unwelcome penetration did. Jackson started thrusting in earnest, either oblivious to, or more likely turned on by, Mike’s anguish. 

“Oh my god, you’re so tight. You’re a good boy, aren’t you? My sweet, tight boy. You’re mine now, mine.”

Through the haze of pain, Mike felt his leg being grabbed and pulled up so his knee was against his side, as the doctor shifted positions, then resumed the pounding. 

“So flexible as well. To think that the omega I’ve been waiting for is such a good fuck. A brain like yours could have been in any ugly old body. I must have been very good in a previous life to find such a mind in such a gorgeous package.”

At this point, the coherent sentences petered out as Jackson put all his energy into forcing his entire length into Mike on every thrust, the occasional murmurs of ‘God, so tight, perfect’ and ‘mine’ eventually giving way to increasingly loud grunts. 

The pain was filling Mike so completely that he had no idea how much time had passed, only that he had never felt anything so agonising or intrusive in his life. His throat was sore and dry from screaming; the only sounds now coming from him were the occasional croaked groan or whimper. It seemed like it had already been an eternity when he felt the heavy body on top of him finally still with a grunt and empty himself inside him. His first thoughts at this were ‘it’s over, it’s over, it’s over’, but he realised only a few seconds later that Jackson wasn’t withdrawing. His ass was in so much pain that he couldn’t feel exactly what was happening yet, although he could hear him breathing heavily. 

Lying there shivering, in terrible pain, he suddenly felt his arms released from their bindings above him. He found himself suddenly flipped over onto his side, Jackson spooning him from behind, still inside him, with his arms wrapped around his front holding Mike’s wrists tightly. It was only when settled in this position for several seconds that the fog of pain in Mike’s head finally cleared enough for him to realise what was happening, causing him to start struggling desperately against the stronger man who held him far too tightly. 

“Still pretty feisty I see.” Jackson at least did seem slightly out of breath, but retained his vice like grip. “Can you feel that, huh? You’ve never been fucked before, so I know you’ve never been knotted. Today has been full of new beginnings for everyone, hasn’t it? No, there’s no point fighting. This won’t be going down for a while now, although it won’t be as big or as long as when I claim you. You might as well just relax and wait it out. You might even enjoy it.”

It was this final indignity that caused Mike to nearly lose it. Even knowing that the knot meant nothing while he wasn’t in heat, that he couldn’t be bred from until then, it was still just too much. He was warm and sticky between his legs, and given the knot keeping Jackson’s semen inside of him, he knew it wasn’t sperm. As he lay there, pinned down completely, he wondered vaguely if the light-headedness he was feeling was due to the pain he was in, or the blood loss he had obviously suffered during the rape. Or worse, what if it was the first sign of his heat, brought on by the sex?

He shuddered at this thought; Alison had said it could be soon, but surely not _this_ soon. He had to have some luck go his way, surely? At this movement, the Doctor pulled him back against his chest even tighter and shifted his hips, causing the knot to push in further and making him cry out again in pain. 

He was still determined not to cry, but the pain was just so much, and, worse, the despair he had been trying to hold back had finally breached his defences. Doctor Jackson was right; he was damaged now. Mike didn’t care that the Senator wouldn’t want him, although it did take away one possible escape route, but he now knew with a certainty that any hope he had managed to successfully bury deep down with regards Harvey had now gone. If he hadn’t been good enough for him before, he was certainly not going to be now. Again, he tried to push Harvey out of his mind, almost afraid that Jackson would know who he was thinking about. Instead, after they had been tied for over thirty minutes, the doctor suddenly pulled himself free, the action causing Mike a stab of pain that finally pushed his exhausted body over its limit and causing him to pass out. 

Doctor Jackson grabbed a towel and wiped himself down, gazing at the omega’s prone body in front of him. As he re-dressed himself, he stood over Mike and looked him up and down. The blindfold still covered his eyes, but the rest of his face was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, the cheek that had been slapped already turning a dark shade of purple. His nipples were pink and hard, having been pinched repeatedly during the coupling, and he couldn’t resist bending down and sucking one briefly, savouring the sweet taste. 

As his eyes rested on Mike’s thighs, he smiled, finding the contrast of the white sheets with the blood still running down his legs aesthetically pleasing. The sheets themselves were gradually growing redder as the blood pooled under him. Taking his phone out from his pocket, he took several close up pictures of Mike’s body, although none showed his face. Pocketing it, he smiled, thinking about how angry the recipient was likely to be. Then, with one final glance at his evening’s work, he left the room.


	16. Chapter 16

Alison headed down the corridor with some trepidation. The surgery had gone well, but Reggie hadn’t woken up yet, and the head vet had refused to release him until he’d come round from the anaesthetic. She was horribly aware of her promise to Mike that when she next saw him she’d return with the puppy, and knew she was going to have her work cut out explaining his absence. Stealing herself, she pushed open the door, mouth half open to start the apology, and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight that greeted her. 

Mike was unconscious, lying exactly as he had been left by Doctor Jackson about two hours earlier; his lower half was covered in half dried blood and semen, the sheets beneath him soaked red. Alison stared, horrified, for a moment, then hit the intercom button. 

“This is Doctor Williams, I need two orderlies up here right now. If they’re not in this room in the next thirty seconds they’re fired.”

Releasing the button, she hurried over to Mike’s side and took his pulse, sighing in relief when she found it strong. She’d barely finished when Butch and Spike practically fell through the door in their rush. 

“Good, you’re here.” She walked into the connected bathroom, turned on the tap in the bath, and called back through to them. “Please can you bring him in here, as gently as possible.”

“Shit, he’s alive? All this blood I thought the doc had jumped the gun this time.”

She looked back through the door, confused. “What do you… Never mind, I didn’t ask you for commentary, just do it.” 

She turned back to the bath, testing the water to make sure it was luke warm, as the two men brought him in. 

“Put him in, gently, then I want you to strip the room down. I don’t want to see one drop blood by the time I come back in there.”

“Yes, Doctor Williams.” Spike was clearly still dwelling on the threat of being fired, but his colleague paused to leer down at Mike’s naked body before he went. 

“Did I not make myself clear? Get out of here. And shut the door behind you.”  
“Whatever you say, doc.”

As soon as they were gone, she grabbed one of the towels from the rack next to her and soaked it under the still running tap – the bath water that Mike was sitting in up to his waist had already turned a lurid shade of red. First she pulled the blindfold off him, and gently washed the dried sweat off his face, frowning at the vivid purple bruise on his cheekbone. As she cleaned him up, she started to cry.

“Oh Michael. I’m so sorry. I didn’t expect this.”

-

“Shit. Please, just go away. I don’t deserve this.”

“Wake up sleepy head. Time to rise and shine. Why are you putting a pillow over your head? You know you can’t suffocate yourself, right?”

“Can I suffocate you instead?”

“Well, not if you don’t get up, no.”

“Ugh.”

Harvey rolled over, cracked open his eyes, and was immediately hit by déjà vu. 

“I think I’ve woken up in Groundhog Day. Didn’t we do this yesterday?”

“Yep. And to be honest, you’re really getting too old for this two nights in a row thing.”

Ignoring the glare that Harvey was giving her, Donna bustled around the bedroom, pulling out clothes and throwing them towards him. 

“God, alright, I’m getting up. I suppose a little privacy while I grab a shower is too much to ask for?”

“Like I haven’t seen it all before anyway.” Donna smirked at him, then called out “It’s alright, we don’t need the ice water, he’s getting up!”

“Wait, ice water? Who’s here?”

“Jessica. She arrived about an hour ago to discuss how we proceed with things. We were letting you get your beauty sleep, but we’ve almost run out of coffee so figured it was time to wake you up.”

Harvey stared at her. “What? Have I got lipstick on my teeth or something?”

“No, I was just thinking. Thank fuck you aren’t an alpha. You’d be running the world by now.”

“Oh sweetie. I don’t need to be an alpha to run the world. Now, go have your shower, while I get us some fresh coffee.”

\- 

Alison had thought she was nervous the last time she headed towards Mike’s room, but it was nothing compared to this. About an hour had passed since she’d put him back to bed, clean and bandaged, and clothed again in t-shirt and boxer shorts. She had been relieved to find the damage wasn’t as bad as it had first looked; it would be painful for a while, but there should be no permanent effects. Physically, in any case. 

Now she was returning to see if he’d woken up, and this time she had company. The tiny bundle in her arms hadn’t fully shaken off the anaesthesia yet, but he’d woken up and that had been enough to persuade the head vet to release him to her. 

She entered the room as quietly as she could and realised he had yet to wake up. Tucking Reggie under her arm, she walked hesitantly towards the bed, not sure if she should touch him or not. 

After hovering for a couple of minutes, she shook her head, realising she had to get a grip. Apart from anything else, as it got later he would need his usual injections and tests; she wasn’t naïve enough to think that Doctor Jackson would make any exceptions for this. She sat down gingerly on the side of the bed, making sure not to be too close, and whispered softly. 

“Michael. Michael, can you hear me?” When there was no response after a couple of minutes, she sighed, and finally reached out. As she touched his shoulder, his eyes snapped open and he flinched away.

“Hey, hey, it’s OK. It’s only me. It’s Alison. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

He blinked at her, his eyes focusing slowly as he properly woke up, then turned his head away. He spoke so softly she could barely hear him. 

“You said it would be alright. He has my best interests at heart, right?”

“I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t think… I didn’t believe he’d do this. I don’t understand why…”

She jumped, startled as Mike laughed suddenly. Still facing away from her, his laughter continuing as he buried his head in the pillow, his whole body shaking as he grew more and more hysterical. Alarmed, Alison shook him by his forearm. 

“Michael, calm down, please. Please, you’ll make yourself sick.”

His hysteria finally subsiding, he turned to look at her, meeting her eyes for the first time.

“I can tell you why. He explained it all to me. He wanted me to understand.”

She frowned, but nodded at him to continue.

“Apparently the Senator doesn’t like it when his toys have already been played with. Especially if they’ve been broken.” He watched as the understanding dawned in her eyes. “He said I tasted so sweet…”

“Oh. Oh Michael, I’m so sorry.” She felt nauseous, thinking of the research she’d been so excited about.

“It doesn’t matter. None of it matters now.”

“What do you mean? Of course it does!”

Mike turned away again, laying his head down on the pillow. “He’s won. The Senator will carry on fighting his war, he’ll make it impossible to live as a free omega. When my heat comes, Doctor Jackson will claim me, and that will be it.”

“We don’t know that. You can’t be sure that omegas are going to be treated badly, like…”

“Like I have been? Look at me. You saw what he did. We’re nothing to them.” 

“You can’t just give up like that. You’ve been fighting this whole time…”

“He’s right, I’m damaged goods. Nothing but a worthless whore, he said. He didn’t want anyone else to have me, so he’s broken me to make sure they won’t want to.” His voice cracked, but he shook his head, still refusing to cry. “And for what? So I can be an incubator for him? I can’t… I can’t do that. I can’t be responsible for giving him children. I’d rather die. I will die first.”

-

By the time Harvey emerged, Donna had been out and back with supplies of fresh coffee and pastries, and was sitting on the couch with Jessica, watching the news. He could immediately tell from the expressions on their faces that it wasn't good.

He flopped as gracefully as he could on the couch next to them, accepting the coffee Donna handed him gratefully, and gestured towards the TV. 

“Give me the short version. I’m not sure I can deal with more rolling news from the botox brigade with this hangover.”

Jessica glared at him. “Maybe you shouldn’t be getting drunk two nights in a row at your age then. Frankly it’s all going about as you’d expect. There haven’t been any final figures on arrests made last night for omegas out after curfew, but early signs suggest it’s ‘a lot’. Right now there’s a large protest going on at City Hall, and a second smaller one at the Senator’s own private residence. And just as you’d expect from absolute morons, there are growing counter protests from people in support of the legislation, using the kind of language that a week ago would have got you arrested for hate speech but now seems to be a ticket to your own talk show on Fox.” “Ouch.”

“Oh, and that’s not the best part,” Donna cut in, changing the channel to show what looked like an aerial shot of a refugee camp in a wood. “Take a look at Central Park.”

Harvey leaned forward to try to see better. “What the hell?”

“One of the younger, more _radical_ omega rights groups has set up a shanty town and is encouraging more omegas to come down. It’s basically Occupy Central Park right now. The cops don’t seem to be doing anything about it yet, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t take much for it to turn bad.”

“That would be just what we need. An NY Waco.”

Jessica shook her head. “Try to be a little less dramatic, Juliet. Last time I checked there’s been no large scale deliveries of Kool Aid there. But it doesn’t take a particularly vivid imagination to see what would happen if a bullet gets fired there.” She was interrupted by her cell phone ringing, and headed out onto the balcony to answer it. 

“Jesus. At least it’s just New York at the moment.”

Donna shrugged. “Today it is. You can bet that what happens here today will be happening all over the US by tomorrow. Oh, fun fact! At least one Middle Eastern leader has already made a statement saying they’re glad that America has finally seen sense. And Russia is threatening to go to the UN and demand sanctions.”

“What? Why?”

“Revenge for all the times we’ve done it to them for their human rights abuses? If you were the President of Russia, don’t tell me you wouldn’t be tempted to do the same, if only for the look on our faces.”

Harvey pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to get his head around developments, but was interrupted by his phone. Glancing at the ID, he frowned as he picked up and muttered, “Great, just what I need this morning."

“Good morning Robert, what can I do for you? What? No, I haven’t. Well it’s Saturday, I don’t generally keep tabs on my employees on the weekends. Yes, I know that’s a lie, but in this case I honestly don’t know. Did you drop her off at her apartment last night? What do you mean?”

Donna frowned as she watched Harvey become increasingly concerned. 

“That’s unfair Robert, we take very good care of our employees. If you calm down for a moment I’ll tell you exactly what was happening. Thank you. Jessica made sure that all Pearson Specter omegas were accompanied home by a suitable alpha well before the curfew hit. Well she said she called you. No, she told Jessica you were waiting for her in the lobby at…” He glanced at Donna for confirmation

“7pm”

“… at around 7pm. No, why would we check? Why would she lie about it? No, I don’t know either. Look, Robert, we both know how independent Rachel is. I’m sure it’s as simple as her not wanting to rely on you. She left well before the curfew so I’m sure she’s safely at home now, and it’s just a cell phone problem, but I’m going to look into it. Why don’t you go check her apartment and I’ll see if she went into work. It’s Saturday, so the office is the obvious place for an associate to be. Of course I’ll keep you informed. Goodbye.”

As he hung up, he saw that Jessica had returned and was looking at him expectantly. 

“Apparently Rachel did not in fact call Robert to collect her last night. He hasn’t seen her and her cell is going straight through to voice mail.”

“Shit. You’re telling me that we’re now missing two omegas under my responsibility?”

“Hey, like I just said to Robert. This one isn’t our fault; she lied to us.”

Donna winced at the implications of _this one_. Jessica ignored him and picked up her handbag. 

“Fine. Either way I’m going to the office to see if she’s there or if there’s any clue as to where she might have gone.”

“You don’t have to, I told Robert I’d go…”

“No, I need to go anyway. That was Security, apparently we had a break-in last night. I need to see what the situation is. You stay here in case you’re needed by the ORO. I have a feeling things are going to escalate quickly.”

Donna spoke up quickly, “I’ll stay with Harvey and try to put together a list of places that Rachel might have gone, just in case she’s not at her apartment or the Firm.”

“Thanks Donna. You two keep me informed of anything that needs my input, and of course let me know if she shows up.”

As the door shut behind her, Harvey turned and just stared at Donna, at a loss for once at what to do. She shrugged.

“I think I better make some more coffee.” 

-

Alison sat in silence, staring in horror at the back of Mike’s head, not knowing how to respond, when they were both surprised by a soft whine; she had forgotten the beagle puppy tucked under her arm, and Mike had clearly not noticed him before. Now, hearing him, he sat up and reached out desperately, pulling Reggie into his arms as Alison handed him over, and staring at the bandaged stump where his front paw used to be.

“Hey little buddy. You’ve been in the wars too, huh?”

Grateful for the change of subject, Alison told him “The vet’s really pleased with how the surgery went. It’s a clean amputation and there should be no problems. He’s a smart little guy, it won’t take him long before he’s just as mobile as before. He’s too little for a cone though…”

“He would not like the cone of shame,” Mike intoned, tickling the puppy under his chin. Alison shook her head, missing the reference but glad that Mike was focusing on something else, however briefly. 

“No, he wouldn’t. So you’re going to have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn’t try and chew his bandages.” She paused, considering. “Michael, are you listening?”

“Of course,” he responded, but carried on petting Reggie, enamoured as always with the tiny dog.

“Michael, look at me.” He finally looked up and met her gaze. 

“You’re not worthless. And you’re not broken.”

He laughed again, this time without the edge of hysteria, but just as humourlessly as before. 

“Listen to me. I’m not going to tell you that you’re not damaged. You won’t believe me anyway. Something horrendous has been done to you, and you’re going to have to cope with that, but it’s not who you are.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know who I am now. I don’t think I’m the same person I was yesterday.”

She reached out, slowly, giving him the chance to pull back, and gently cupped his cheek. 

“Maybe not. But it doesn’t mean the person you are today has any less worth than the one you were yesterday.” She paused, trying to find the right words to say. “Look at Reggie. He still adores you!”

This time there was a small hint of amusement in his smile. “He’s a dog. That’s what they do, they love unconditionally.” He bent down and kissed Reggie’s nose, and was rewarded with a rough tongue licking his chin. “I’ve heard the way alphas talk, you know. About omegas, I mean. They don’t care how many betas you’ve been with, but if they find out you’ve been with an alpha, you’re a slut. Even if you were… even if you didn’t want it. You’re tainted. Like Doctor Jackson said, I’m damaged goods.”

“Well, Reggie isn’t the same as he was yesterday either. There’s a lot of people who would have had him put down rather than operate. They’d argue that he’s damaged, he’s not whole. Think they’d be right?”

Mike looked up at her, the conflicting emotions of hope and despair obvious on his face. “No, but…”

“No buts. They’d be wrong. He’s had a tough time, and he’s going to need a lot of care and understanding. And no, maybe he won’t be the same again now he’s lost one of his paws. But I know you’ll give him all the love he needs. He’ll adjust to his new circumstances, and soon you won’t even remember that he’s different.”

“You’re not very subtle, you know.”

She smiled at him. “I know. But I hope I’ve made my point.” 

He nodded. “I’m not sure I believe you though. I want to, but…”

“I know, sweetie.”

“You know, this isn’t the first time you’ve compared me to a beagle.”

“No? I don’t recall.”

“You told me I was a test subject like the dogs in the lab.”

Alison winced as she remembered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I don’t think that anymore.”

“You were right though. I mean, that’s all I am. Do you still think Doctor Jackson is a good man?”

Alison’s head spun at the abrupt change of subject. “I… don’t know. I want to believe he is. That he’s just misguided. Right now I’m having a little trouble.”

“Do the scientists in the animal lab treat them well? The other beagles I mean. And the, what, mice, rats?”

“Yes, I think so. They treat them as well as they can, they try not to cause them un-necessary discomfort. And they looked after Reggie very well.” 

“Would they treat any of them the way Doctor Jackson has treated me?”

She stared at him, unable to answer. As she tried to think of a response, she noticed that Mike was wincing, and the arm not holding Reggie was wrapped around his stomach. 

“Is the pain bad? You can tell me.”

He nodded, and sank back, suddenly exhausted. He ached all over; his face and stomach were sore and that was apart from the pain between his legs he was desperately trying to ignore. Reggie took the opportunity to curl up under his chin, clearly wanting a nap of his own now he was back with his beloved owner. 

“I can give you something for the pain, and I think I better give you something to help you sleep as well.” She rose and headed to unlock the cupboard.

“Alison please. Can’t you help me? Somehow? Please. You can’t let him claim me.”

“I don’t know what I can do!” She came back over to him with a syringe. “This will knock you out for a bit, and I’ll set up a drip for some morphine, OK?”

“Please Alison! There must be something you can do. Anything!” Mike was getting hysterical again as he begged, and Alison’s eyes pricked with tears at his desperation. 

“Shhhh, it’s OK, it’ll be OK.” She pushed the syringe in, but this time as it began to take effect, she leaned in and whispered to him, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Mike closed his eyes and let himself go under, the combination of her words and the small warm body tucked against his giving him a small glimmer of hope again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has had a week from hell like I have, I recommend googling pictures of three legged beagles. Seriously. It's like bottled joy.
> 
> ETA: I posted [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWqm9FNHYtE) in the comments, but thought I'd stick it here as well. This is basically Reggie. Just try and not grin like a fool when watching it.


	17. Chapter 17

Alison was just finishing setting up the morphine drip for Mike when Dr Jackson entered. He frowned when he saw Mike lying there unmoving. 

“Has he not come round yet? I would have thought he’d have woken up by now.”

“He was in a fair bit of pain, so I gave him a sedative and I’ve set him up with some morphine.”

Jackson shrugged. “Fair enough. I have a list of further supplements that I want him started on. They can be added to his daily injections. It’s all fairly straightforward.”

She glanced at the list he handed her. “Folic acid, zinc… “

“His heat should be hitting any day now, so I want to make sure he has all everything he needs.”

Alison hesitated. “We could feed him solid food maybe? I’m not sure whether just giving him the nutritional drinks and vitamin injections is enough. He’s quite thin already….”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’m confident we can keep him healthy without having to provide full meals. If he needs to be confined to his bed it will easier just to catheterise him.”

“Understood, Doctor. Was there anything else you needed? I’m almost finished up here.”

“Just to say that I won’t be around today. I have various things that need my attention elsewhere.”

Alison was grateful she was still facing away from him, as if she was still fixing Mike’s drip, as she didn’t think she could mask her feelings of relief at the news. 

“Alright, I’ll make sure he gets the updated shots.” 

“Thank you.” He opened the door to leave, but paused. “Was there something else, Doctor Williams? You seem to have something on your mind.”

Alison turned round to face him. “Actually I was just wondering… I understand that you…. That you… “ 

“Go on. You know I am always open with you.”

“What happened last night. I understand that it was in order to prevent Michael being claimed by Senator Mitchell.”

“That’s correct.” He studied her for a minute. “Doctor Williams – Alison – I know you are not completely ignorant of the Senator’s rather specific predilections. He is a sadist. Would you have wanted Michael to be claimed by him?”

“Of course not. I’ve heard the rumours… But none of the omegas we’ve provided for him have been returned. You told me he paid them quite a bit to disappear when he tired of them.”

“And you’re wondering if it was worth it?” He sighed. “Alison, I do understand. From your point of view it must have looked quite brutal. But it was necessary. A one-off inconvenience to protect him from a prolonged period of much worse.”

“I suppose I just don’t understand why. We’ve had more than half a dozen omegas pass through here in the past year. What is it about Michael that has made you decide to claim him for yourself?”

He smiled at this. “As if you haven’t become attached to him yourself!” He gestured at the puppy curled up against Mike’s chest. “I don’t recall you giving pets to any of our other test subjects.”

Alison blushed at this. “It was timing, he would have been put down…”

Jackson held his hand up to stop her. “It’s quite alright. I have no problem with him having a pet of his own. As for why I’ve chosen him… I think Michael can answer that for you. When he wakes up, I suggest you ask him about his test results.”

She frowned in confusion at this, but figured that Mike would maybe be able to clear it up for her. 

“Now, if that’s eased your mind, I really had better go or I shall be late for my first appointment.”

“Just one more thing, sorry. I feel guilty for even asking, but….”

He waved his hand at her again. “Go on.”

“You will treat him well, won’t you? He was pretty upset when I spoke to him earlier. I understand what you’ve told me, but… now that the Senator is out of the picture there’s no need to be rough, right? I don’t want to speak out of turn, obviously.”

Jackson smiled at her. “My dear Doctor Williams, your question does you justice. It’s only right that you should be concerned for the well-being of your patients. Michael is going to be my bond-mate. I will make sure he has everything he needs.” He paused. “You understand, of course, that omegas need proper care, and that includes appropriate structure. It is an alpha’s responsibility to make sure that his omega is trained properly, especially with the new laws that will be coming. Now, if you will excuse me…”

“Oh, of course. I’m sorry for holding you up.”

“Not at all, it’s better that such things are out in the open and I’m glad I could set your mind at rest. I shall speak to you further tomorrow, we need to discuss the next round of tests.”

Alison watched him go, considering his words. As she had previously told Mike, she had always agreed with the notion that omegas needed alphas to look after them. On the other hand, she couldn’t shake the image of how she had found him the previous night. Something told her that Doctor Jackson’s idea of ‘structure and training’ wouldn’t be good for Mike’s wellbeing. 

Outside the room, Jackson paused and took out his cell phone, hitting the speed dial and smiling when it went straight to voicemail. 

“Good morning Senator. I have some unfortunate news for you. There has been an accident with the package that we are currently holding for your collection. One of our members of staff got a little carried away during testing and it has been damaged. The orderly concerned has been terminated and we shall of course supply you with a replacement as soon as we can. Do accept my apologies.”

Smiling as he hung up, he selected one of the pictures he had taken of Mike after the assault and sent it to the Senator’s phone, his only regret being that he wouldn’t see the expression on his face when the message was received. 

-

Mid-morning found Harvey and Donna still attached to the couch, watching the rolling news as it delivered updates to the crisis. The number of arrests made had been growing steadily as more and more omegas joined the growing demonstrations. 

“The jails are gonna be full of omegas soon. Where will they put the actual criminals?”

Donna snorted. “It won’t be a problem, as all the cops are so busy enforcing a bullshit curfew they won’t be out catching anyone else.”

“Ugh. I wish you weren’t right. Oh god, what’s he going to say now?”

Senator Mitchell’s face had appeared on the screen, along with a list of proposals to ‘curb the recent omega violence.’ 

“Jesus, he can’t be serious. Can he do this?”

“If he gets elected, and it gets passed… There’s still no proof that the general public are behind him. But right now it wouldn’t take much.”

The main proposal focused on making it a legal requirement that all omegas were answerable to an appropriate alpha. Underage omegas would clearly be the responsibility of their parents or guardians, while claimed omegas would belong to their bond-mates. If un-bonded, they would be reliant on an alpha relative. If such an alpha didn’t exist, however….

“Oh my god. This is insane. I can’t believe people will stand for this. Camps?”

Harvey didn’t reply, but he shared Donna’s horror at the information that was scrolling across the screen. Any omega without an appropriate alpha would be housed in communal bases overseen initially by the government, but eventually opened up to private tender. Such omegas would then be ‘assigned’ to suitable, interested alphas, as long as the alpha could prove they had the means to provide for them. 

“Harvey, they’re basically talking about slavery. You and I both know what would happen to omegas in those camps. Alphas ‘proving they have means?’ In other words, buying the omegas. Or bribing whoever’s in charge. Either way, it’s obvious the omegas wouldn’t have any say!”

“I know Donna, but what can we do? We’re working on discrediting the Senator as it is.”

Donna glared at him, obviously not considering him to be as alarmed about this as he should be. 

“You do get who would be in these camps, right?”

“What do you mean? They said, unbonded omegas who don’t have suitable relatives, right?”

She looked at him if he was stupid. “Right. Like, for example, orphans. You want to finally find Mike, only to have him locked up in one of these facilities and sold to the highest bidder?”

“Shit.” She was right. He was stupid. “Actually no, you know what, it wouldn’t happen.” 

“How do you figure that?”

“I won’t let it. When we find him, I’ll be his responsible alpha.”

This time it was Donna who was left speechless. “That’s a big step. For you.”

“You’re right. When we find him, I’m not letting him be locked up. And I’m certainly not letting him get sold into slavery. If that means bonding with him, so be it.” 

“That’s the only reason, huh?”

“I’m going to make another pot of coffee.”

“Harvey, don’t deflect. You know you wouldn’t be bonding just to save him.”

At that moment, his cell rang. “Saved by the bell. But we’re not done here.”

“Whatever you say. Jessica! What’s happening? Is there any sign of Rachel?”

“Not exactly. I checked in her office and everything is very tidy. Maybe even excessively so, like she wasn’t planning to come back any time soon. I’m not looking forward to having that conversation with Robert.”

“How about the break-in. Anything taken?”

“It’s complicated. According to security, there was no break in. No one unauthorised seems to have entered or left at any point during the night, and the only things missing are some reference books from the law library. Want to guess the topic?”

“Right now, not really.”

“Fine, spoil my fun. They were all concerned with omega cases, mainly dating back to when things were less enlightened than now. Or less enlightened than last week, anyway.” 

“So it was an inside job?”

“Harvey, this isn’t a bank robbery. But yes, it looks like a member of staff took the books for some extra research. I’ve asked security to check their CCTV feeds and to let me know who was in the library last night after we left.”

“Is that really necessary? I mean, I’m beginning to have a pretty clear idea of who it might be.”

“Let’s just get confirmation, OK? I’ll be here for another hour or so, then I’m heading home. You and Donna try to behave.”

“Yes, mom”

“Goodbye, Harvey.”

-

“Senator! Senator! Can we ask you a couple of questions about your proposals?”

Ignoring the calls of the mob of journalists camped outside his campaign headquarters, Senator Mitchell was pushed through by his bodyguard, followed closely by the same woman who had introduced him to the press the day before. 

Once the door had shut behind them, he turned to her and beamed. 

“Well, that seemed to go well!”

“Yes, Senator. Your next appointment is in 17 minutes, and you have several messages waiting for your attention.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Can I not have a second to myself to celebrate? Oh well, I suppose a politician’s work is never done.”

As they entered the main campaign war-room, Katrina looked up and briefly met the eye of his assistant who, to Katrina, had a long suffering expression she was familiar with from having worked with Louis; the Senator had taken out his cell phone and was listening to his personal messages while she was clearly attempting to manoeuvre him towards his office. 

She turned her attention back to the call list in front of her, wondering for the sixth time that day why she’d volunteered for this; she’d discovered little of use during her time there, and was frankly sick of talking to prospective donors. The last one she’d spoken to had kept her on the line for over 20 minutes with a lengthy, and baffling, rant about how omegas were the reason he couldn’t get laid. Sighing, she picked up the phone and was about to dial when she heard a loud smash.

“FUCK! THAT FUCKING BACKSTABBING CUNT. I’LL RUIN HIM!”

Every face in the room turned towards the Senator, who was standing there, red-faced with fury, his phone lying smashed where it had been hurled at the wall. His visibly alarmed advisor grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him into his office, pausing only to yell at the staff to get back to work before slamming the door shut. 

Katrina waited a few seconds, then slipped out of her seat. She quickly gathered up as much of the shattered phone as she could, grabbed her bag, and left the building. 

-

Returning from the bathroom, and cursing the amount of coffee he’d already drunk that day, Harvey saw that Donna was frowning as if the TV had personally offended her. 

“Something new?”

“You know how we were kidding earlier? Apparently they’ve run out of jail space.”

“From the look on your face I’m guessing they’re not solving this by maybe not arresting innocent people.”

“They just announced that from now on they’ll be, and I quote, ‘temporarily re-locating’ any arrested omegas on military bases.”

“Holy fuck. I’m beginning to think they’re actually trying to start a civil war.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I know it's a short one, but life continues to be ass. Promise next update won't take long though.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to Sauffie, who has been such an amazing supporter for this first time ficcer, and is going through a rough time at the moment. I just wish I had a fluffier chapter to dedicate to you!

“You know, I don’t think you’re even trying anymore. Don’t look at me like that, you need to put in some effort or you won’t see the results. Oh god, don’t look at me with those eyes, seriously.”

“I was worried that you’d started talking to yourself, but I’m not sure this is much better. It’s a sign of madness, you know.”

Mike looked up from where he was once again sitting on a nest of bedding on the floor and grinned at Alison. 

“Talking to Reggie isn’t a sign of madness. Now if he starts answering back….”

“What were you telling him off for anyway?”

“I’m trying to get him to practice running around to get used to it, but he keeps rolling onto his back. He just wants his tummy rubbed the whole time. But look at him! How can I say no to those eyes? That little face?”

Mike gestured to the puppy, who was indeed lying on his back, with his legs waving in the air. Alison laughed, but had her own thoughts on saying no when certain eyes were gazing at her. 

Shaking her head, she came over and handed him the cup she was carrying. 

“Oh man, is it that time?”

“You must be feeling hungry.”

“For food, yes. I hate to think what’s in these shakes. ‘Nutrients’ could mean anything. How do I know this isn’t a Soylent Green situation, huh?”

“Come on, it’s not that bad. And I promise, no human flesh. That’s only in the strawberry one.”

“Ha ha ha.” Mike sighed, and took the drink handed to him, as Alison sat down on the bed and looked down at him as he sipped it with an exaggerated frown. 

“Baby. Do I need to get a spoon and do an aeroplane?”

“You’re not funny, you know.” Alison sat there silently while he carried on drinking. When he’d finally finished it, turning it upside down to prove it was empty with a particularly sarcastic flourish, she took a deep breath. 

“So I had a conversation with Dr Jackson earlier while you were asleep.” She winced as she saw him flinch at the mention of the doctor, then immediately school his face into a very unconvincing nonchalance.

“Um… what did he say?”

“Well firstly I have some good news. He’s not going to be around at all today. He told me he’d be back tomorrow morning.”

Mike let out the breath he hadn’t realised he was holding, his whole body visibly sagging with relief. 

“Oh.”

“But there is something he said that I wanted to discuss with you.”

He looked up at her, curious. “Um, ok?”

She slipped off the bed, and sat down on the floor next to him. 

“I asked him why he’d picked you, over the other omegas we’d had here. He told me you were special, but he wouldn’t tell me why. He told me to ask you.”

Mike stared at her, not knowing how to respond. 

“Um, I don’t…. I can’t….” 

She put her hand on his arm. “It’s OK, whatever it is I won’t judge you, you know that, right?” She thought for a minute, as he sat there obviously not knowing how to respond. 

“Hey, you hate those shakes, right?”

He choked back a laugh. “Yeah, just a little.”

“Well I guess they get a little boring after a while. Unfortunately, Dr Jackson has said that you can’t have any solid foods. But that does leave a bit of wiggle room, I think. So how about you tell me what you miss the most and I’ll see what I can do?”

“Seriously?”

“Would I lie to you? Come on then, there must be some….”

“Coffee!”

She burst out laughing. “Coffee? I was expecting you to say beer, or scotch or something!”

“I’m not really a big drinker, but oh my god I miss coffee. I’m kind of surprised I don’t have the shakes from not having any in days.”

She smiled at him, amused, then pulled herself up onto her feet. “Coffee it is then. And you’re in luck – one of our lab techs is a bit of a connoisseur and I happen to know where he keeps the good stuff. I’ll go brew us some up, if you promise me that while I’m gone you have a think about what I’ve asked.”

As she opened the door to leave, Mike called out to her. “Alison? You remember that IQ test I took, when I wasn’t… wasn’t feeling my best? Could I take it again?”

Puzzled by the random request, Alison simply nodded. “Sure. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes with it and the coffee.”

The door closed behind her, and Mike pulled Reggie over to his lap, hugging the puppy to his chest. 

-

Harvey stared at his own mug of coffee in disgust. “Donna, what the hell is this? I’m damn sure this isn’t my coffee.”

“It’s decaf.”

“It’s… what the hell? Decaf? I’m pretty sure I don’t have decaf coffee anywhere in this apartment. I wouldn’t allow it.”

“You didn’t, I got it when you were in the shower.”

“You went out?”

Donna stared at him. “Where did you think lunch came from? You didn’t have any food here.”

“I thought you ordered out or something. And that’s beside the point, why have you contaminated my penthouse with this monstrosity?”

“Harvey, the amount of coffee we have both been drinking today, apart from necessitating way too many trips to the bathroom, would mean we would never sleep again. Ever. Hence decaf.”

“You couldn’t consider some other alternative? Like… green tea? Or scotch? Scotch doesn’t have caffeine.”

“Green tea does though.”

“It does? Huh.”

“Harvey, listen to me. I think it’s fair to say that the last few days have been shitty and frankly traumatic, and god knows we’ve been drunk for a large amount of it. But I think we need to start being sensible. We need to have at least some semblance of normalcy. And getting blind drunk or being awake all night with caffeine shakes is not normal.” She considered the truth of this for a second. “Well, it’s not healthy anyway.”

“Fine. Just promise me it is at least expensive decaf.”

“Of course, I used your card.”

Harvey’s complaining might have carried on for a lot longer, but he was interrupted by his cell phone. 

“Harvey Spector. Lord Graham, what can I do for you? They’re what? No, don’t give them anything. I’ll be right down. No, just tell them your legal representative is on his way and they can’t do anything until he arrives. I’ll be right there.” He hung up and turned to see a worried Donna. 

“What’s going on?”

“That was Lord Graham. He’s at the ORO – it’s being raided by the police. They’re demanding all they’re records be handed over. I have to get over there.”

“Shit. You think there’s anything to find?”

“I don’t know. We went through all their financials, but we can’t be sure that Miller didn’t plant anything while he was there. You stay here, OK? Keep trying to get hold of Rachel. Call me if you need anything.”

At that, he planted a quick kiss on her cheek, grabbed his keys, and left.

-

Mike meant to say thank you, he really did, but when Alison came through the door carefully carrying two mugs of coffee he momentarily forgot how to speak and just inhaled the amazing smell. As she handed him the mug, she couldn’t help but laugh at the blissed out look that came over his face as he stuck his nose right over it. 

“Take it slow, it will be pretty hot right now.”

“Are you kidding? I’m going to make this last as long as possible!”

In her absence, he’d climbed back onto the bed, any attempt at getting Reggie to exercise clearly forgotten; the puppy was now back in his usual spot, curled up tight against Mike, his head resting on his thigh in exactly the right place for it to be scratched. Alison sat down on the end of the bed, sipping her own coffee, and smiled with affection at both of them, pleased that Mike seemed to have temporarily pushed Dr Jackson to the back of his mind. She just hoped that her next question wouldn’t bring it all back.

“So… are you ready to talk about it now?”

Mike was silent for so long that she was worried that he wouldn’t respond, but he finally looked up at her and spoke. “Did you bring the IQ test? I’ll tell you whatever you need to know after I’ve filled it in.”

Alison was still baffled at Mike’s insistence at re-doing the test. “OK, but you know you don’t have to keep putting it off…”

“I’m not, I promise. I just… it will be easier to explain if I do this. Please?”

She shrugged and pulled the booklet out of her labcoat pocket. Handing him a pencil, rose to leave. “I’ll come back in a half hour to check on you and grab the mugs, OK?”

“No, don’t leave. I’ll only be a minute.”

Alison’s confusion rose as she watched him flip through the booklet at speed, barely glancing at each page. It didn’t make any sense – why was he so determined to re-do the test if he wasn’t going to do it properly? After only a couple of minutes, he handed it to her. 

“Did you bring the answers? Can you mark it now?”

“Well, sure, if you want. But you know these things aren’t always accurate. I’ve known some pretty smart people get really bad scores when they weren’t concentrating…”

Her voice petered out as she checked the answers. Both sat there in silence as she made her way through the entire book, then flipped back to the start to double check. 

Eventually, her eyes rose to meet Mike’s. 

“I don’t… How did you do this?”

“Um. This is what Dr Jackson was talking about. I don’t know how he knew, but he did. This is why he chose me. It’s what he wanted me to tell you.”

“But I don’t understand. The test the other day… I know you weren’t feeling great, but this…”

Mike blushed and looked away, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I tricked you. I deliberately got some wrong so you wouldn’t know. I thought if you knew… I don’t know. I thought I had more chance of escaping if you thought I was kind of dumb.” He shook his head. “I guess I _was_ dumb in thinking I could get away with it. He knew all the time. He was laughing at me.” He looked back at her, meeting her gaze. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

Alison sat there, stunned. She kept looking down at the test, then back up to Mike who was watching her closely, waiting to see what her reaction would be. She finally broke the silence. 

“So you’re… smart. No, this isn’t smart. I don’t know what this is.”

“It’s kind of a memory thing. I remember everything I read. And I understand it.”

“Jesus.” She stared at him. “Do you understand the significance of this? We’ve always been told that omegas just don’t have the capacity to be as intelligent as alphas or even betas. This could blow all of that out of the water. My god, the research possibilities…”

“Alison, please, stop!”

The look of distress on Mike’s face stopped her train of thought in its tracks. Standing, she came closer to him and took his hands in hers. 

“Honey, listen to me. I’m sorry I got carried away. But this is a good thing for you! We’ve been focused on certain… experiments so far, but they’ve all been physical. I can talk to Dr Jackson now, persuade him that we should focus on your brain instead. It would mean more tests like this one, rather than the painful ones you’ve been getting.”

Mike shook his head. “But he knows. He already knows about my freaky brain. That’s why he chose me, remember? He knows and he still insisted on the other tests.”

“I’ll speak to him. We already have the results of that _other_ test. We know the effects that pain and fear have on you, further testing would be pointless. I’m sure I can get him to see that. He’s not all that unreasonable you know!”

Mike didn’t even dignify that with a response, his expression alone speaking volumes about how reasonable he considered Dr Jackson to be. 

“I’m serious. He told me why he… why he did what he did. I don’t agree with his methods, at all, but I do understand them in a way.”

Mike glared at her, indignant at her excuses, but she held up her hand. “Listen to me, Michael. I told you, I don’t agree with his methods. But he told you that it was to prevent the Senator taking you, yes? I’m not saying he was right to do what he did. I would never advocate rape. But you may not realise… there are rumours. The Senator gets through omegas fast, we’ve usually barely handed one over when he asks for us to look for the next. I don’t know for sure what happens, but by all accounts he pays them off with a huge sum of money each time, and they just disappear. For him to pay that much out… it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see that things must need a lot of covering up. Now, Dr Jackson shouldn’t have treated you how he did, but maybe it was for the best. One night of pain might have saved you from several weeks of much worse.”

Mike didn’t respond. He hated that he could see some sense in what she was saying; if it was true that the Senator was even more brutal towards omegas than Jackson was then maybe he had been saved in some way. He shook his head. Alison hadn’t been there. She’d seen the aftermath, but she hadn’t had to experience it. Nothing would convince him that it was justified. 

“I understand, sweetie, I do. But at least let me speak to him when he’s back tomorrow. It can’t hurt, right?”

“I guess not. I mean, it can’t make things worse, can it?”

She ruffled his hair. “That’s my boy. Keep your chin up, OK? Now, you drink your coffee. I need to go see to some of my other duties, but I’ll be back later to give you your vitamin shot. Don’t give Reggie any coffee!”

He smiled weakly at her. He was at least relieved that he was no longer lying to her, but it was going to take a lot to convince him that things were going to improve. After she left, he sat back, holding the still warm mug in his hands, and weighed up how things had gone. In the overall scheme of things, he thought, he was at least in a better position than he’d been first thing; Jackson was out for the entire day, and he had coffee. As long as he didn’t think about what had happened the night before, or dwell on the pain he was still suffering from in his ass, he could tell himself that he was OK.

-

Harvey could hear the raised voices as soon as the elevator doors opened. As he turned the corner, he could see Lord Graham through the open door, his face purple with fury as he argued with the officers. Seeing Harvey, he visibly calmed slightly, folding his arms and glaring. 

“Well gentleman, my legal representation has now arrived, so you had better start arguing with him. Frankly, I do not think much of your chances.”

Harvey smirked and turned to the two officers who were clearly in charge. A further three were loitering in the corridor, either waiting for orders or to intimidate with numbers. If the latter, they weren’t doing a good show of it; Harvey had seen more intimating squirrels in Central Park. 

“Good afternoon officers. Perhaps you could explain to me why my client has been forced to summon me on a Saturday afternoon, when I could be golfing with the DA?”

“They are demanding that we hand over all our files. Every single one. “

“Well of course, we’re always eager to help New York’s finest, aren’t we Lord Graham? Officers, I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding. If you’ll just let me look at the warrant that of course you have then we get this all wrapped up quick enough for me to be back for the 19th hole.”

Harvey smiled widely at the senior officer, the picture of helpfulness, and held out his hand, successfully hiding his disappointment when a piece of paper was thrust into it. 

“Thank you officer. I’m sure you won’t mind if I read this thoroughly, will you? And obviously I would like a chance to speak to my client. Would you be so kind as to just wait outside for a minute?”

The officer glared daggers at him, but turned and stalked out of the room, his partner following. 

Harvey’s grin immediately dropped as he turned to Lord Graham. 

“Well that’s bought us maybe 5 minutes tops. Now I’m going to ask a question, and I want an honest answer. Is there anything in these files you don’t want the police to see?”

Lord Graham sat down heavily at his desk, his fingers steepled in front of him. 

“Mr Specter, your firm has had our financial files already. You tell me – is there anything illegal in them?”

“Harvey. And no, we couldn’t find anything. So why the issue with them being taken? I understand the frustration when you’ve done nothing wrong, but with the current atmosphere surely cooperating as fully as possible has to be the best plan.”

“It’s not the financial records that I am concerned about. They have demanded _all_ written records, including those of our shelters. Now, giving your full name is of course not a requirement of being helped by the ORO – we understand the need for anonymity of some the omegas we help. But there are many occasions where we, for whatever reason, have kept track of the more vulnerable of those using our facilities.”

Harvey frowned. “What reasons might that be?”

Lord Graham shrugged. “It varies. It might be that our counsellors have been concerned about their welfare. It’s not unusual for omegas in abusive relationships to come to us for help and then end up going back to their abuser.”

“Why would they do that if they’d got out?”

“Many reasons, that you and I, as alphas, cannot hope to understand. Maybe they had no where else to go. Or no money to escape with. Some think it’s worth the abuse to give their children two parents. And sadly many simply decide that it’s their own fault, they don’t deserve any better.” He shrugged again. “Sometimes it’s as simple as their abuser telling them they’ve changed. If the person you loved told you they were sorry, it would never happen again, could you swear you wouldn’t give them another chance?”

“Not if they’d hurt me!” Harvey stood, agitated. Try as he might, he couldn’t get his head around the idea of willingly returning to someone who had been abusive. 

“Life is rarely simple, Mr Specter, and love never is. Throw in a bond, and well. Who can say what the right thing to do is? Anyway, we are getting off the point. In such circumstances, it is not unusual for our counsellors to keep in contact in order to be in a better position to offer them a lifeline, should the need arise. I am confident that many lives have been saved by this.”

“But…”

“But. I would never suggest that I have no faith in our fine police force. However, I am not comfortable about handing over to them our records of vulnerable omegas, including where to find them. If such information were to fall into the wrong hands, you can imagine how disastrous the consequences might be.” He paused. “Not to mention, I do not think it is a breach of confidence to suggest that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that some of these vulnerable omegas might have been attempting to avoid the very people who are requesting these records.”

“In other words, some of the abusers are cops,” Harvey translated. He looked back at the warrant. “Well I might have some good news there. I think there’s a good case to be made that the warrant only covers your financial records.”

The other alpha’s scepticism was apparent. “It looked fairly convincing to me, but of course I am not a lawyer.”

“It’s not a particularly well-worded warrant. Frankly, our case isn’t great, but it will buy us time. These bozos certainly won’t be able to disagree; I can get it before a judge instead and if we get a sympathetic one we have a chance. Either way, they won’t be able to take anything until Monday at the earliest. In the meantime, I would suggest that you allow Pearson Specter to hold onto the shelters’ records rather than keeping them here.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Since you ask, two. One, I wouldn’t trust Senator Mitchell and his cronies not to break in if there’s information they’re after from here. And two, I would like my firm to have a look themselves.” Seeing the other man was about to protest, Harvey held up his hands to stop him. “Charles, I understand your concerns, but we need to know what’s in those records. Clearly someone wants the information in them and we need to know why, especially if there’s a danger that Thomas Miller planted something before he left. We can only hold them up so long and we can’t afford to be blindsided by something we don’t expect turning up.”

Lord Graham finally nodded. “Very well, Mr Specter. However, I would like to request that the work is carried out by omegas only. It’s not that I don’t trust your staff, I would just personally feel a lot more comfortable.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged. Let’s tell the nice officers the good news, huh?”

-

Alison burst out laughing at the scene she was confronted with when she opened the door. Mike, apparently determined to spend as little time on the bed as possible, was again on the floor with his bedding, but this time he had placed the pillows in front of himself as a barrier, with Reggie on the other side and was encouraging the puppy to jump up and over them. 

“Come on Reggie, you can do it!”

The tiny beagle was currently running backwards and forwards, searching for a way around the barricade that didn’t involve jumping. 

“You’ve made an assault course out of your bedding?”

“I’m trying to get him to jump. He needs to start learning to get around without his paw.”

“Well from here he seems pretty agile. I can’t believe how quickly he’s running up and down!”

Mike grinned proudly. “I know, right? That’s why it’s kind of weird that he won’t jump even a little.”

“Hmm. If you ask me, it’s laziness. He’s a smart puppy you know, he’s figured out that if he can get round it’s less work than going over.”

“Ha, you might be right. He’s not the most active of dogs.” He sighed. “Just as well, he can’t get much exercise in here.”

“We’ll have to figure something out as he gets older. I’ll see what I can come up with, OK? Right now, he’s only small. Home made assault courses will do him fine. Now, if you’ve finished, Sergeant Major, how about hopping up on the bed and using the pillows for what they’re actually for? I have your shots.”

Mike groaned as he hauled himself painfully to his feet. “It’s just as well I don’t mind needles, huh?”

“Yep, you’re a very good patient in that respect. I had one once who actually fainted every time they saw a needle. That was not fun.”

He settled back and held his arm out expectantly, but was surprised when she pulled two vials out of her pocket. 

“What’s the second one?”

Alison didn’t answer immediately, as she swabbed Mike’s arm and pushed the first needle in. 

“I’ve been asked to up your intake of a variety of nutrients, just to make sure you’re as healthy as possible.”

He frowned. “Like what?”

“Well, like some extra vitamins, zinc, folic acid…”

“Oh. I see.”

“Michael, it’s just a precaution.”

“I think we established earlier that I’m not stupid. I know he wants me healthy for a pregnancy.”

She sighed. “Look at it this way, it’s in no one’s interest for you to be sick. You’re not looking so hot today anyway, I thought earlier you looked a little pale, so maybe it’s for the best to make sure you’re getting everything you need.”

They sat in silence as she gave him the second syringeful, his free hand absentmindedly stroking Reggie’s head. Finally, as she was finishing up, he spoke.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” 

“I suppose so. I may not answer it though.”

“Do you have children?”

“Oh. That kind of question, huh?”

She sat down on the end of the bed. “No, I don’t. I nearly did, once. But it wasn’t meant to be. Beta to beta pregnancies still have so many problems, but we wanted to try. When we got to 7 months we were so sure it would be alright. But I guess I wasn’t supposed to be a mother.”

Mike reached out and took her hand, the first time he’d initiated any contact between them. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Oh honey, don’t worry. It’s so long ago now. We called him Robert. He’d be about your age now. I do wonder sometimes what he would have been like, what kind of man he would have become.” She shook her head. “That line of thinking doesn’t really help anyone though, does it?”

Mike opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again, settling for squeezing her hand. 

“Go on, say it. I know you want to.”

“Say what?”

“How would I feel if what’s happening to you had been happening to him? Would I allow this to be done to my own son?”

He shook his head vehemently. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

“No?”

“No!” He was genuinely aghast. “That would be… cruel. What kind of asshole would use the memory of your son to… No. I wouldn’t do that. I know that, whatever my thoughts, you are doing what you think is right.”

Alison blinked back the tears that were threatening. “Wow, how professional am I to cry in front of my patient. I’m supposed to be helping you, not the other way around!”

Mike smiled at her. “It’s OK. My rates are pretty reasonable.”

She laughed at this. “How about we settle for one cup of premium coffee per day. Deal?”

“Throw in a box of dog biscuits and it’s a deal.”

He leant forward to shake her hand, but sat back suddenly. 

“Woah, headrush.”

“Are you OK? I wasn’t kidding about you looking a little pale.”

“Yeah, I’ve just been feeling a bit weird this afternoon. It’s probably just the effects of having caffeine after being deprived of it.”

She hopped off the bed and came round to his side, placing a hand on his forehead. 

“You feel a little warm. I think I’d better take your temperature.”

“Ok… but I still get coffee, right?”

“Oh my god, you’re obsessed. Yes, you still get coffee. Unless you turn out to be allergic to it, then no.”

“I’d rather take my chances…” 

She cut him off effectively by sticking the thermometer in his mouth. “Hush up for a minute. Just sit there like a good boy, if you can!”

While he sat, pouting, with the thermometer sticking out, she tidied the room, putting the empty mugs on a tray to take away and filling a glass with water for him. Eventually, she took it out and studied it. 

“Michael…”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not sick you know. And I can’t be allergic to coffee, I’ve drunk it most of my life.”

“Michael!”

Mike finally registered the expression on her face. “What is it?”

She didn’t answer, just looked at him straight in the eyes, but the expression on her face told him everything. 

“No, no, I can’t, not yet. Please. It must be something else. Maybe I have a virus, or I’m coming down with the flu…”

“Michael I’m so sorry.”

“NO! Please I can’t! There must be something you can do!” He had leaned forward again and was clasping her hands in his.

“There’s nothing, Dr Jackson will be back tomorrow, I can’t help you!”

“You have to, please, I’m begging you. Please! There must be something you can do.” His voice cracked, and dropped to barely more than a whisper. “Please Alison. If he claims me, I will die. I know I will. He wants to breed me for my mind! He’ll do it over and over till he can reproduce it! I can’t carry his children. I won’t.”

Tears were by now streaming down her face. “I can’t help you! I wish things were different but I can’t!”

“Please! There must be something! Anything, anything at all. I can’t! I can’t be bonded with him!”

“I’m sorry!”

She pulled her arms from his, turned and ran out of the room. Mike collapsed back on the bed and buried his head in his arms. He hadn’t been lying; he knew this was it. If Jackson claimed him he would find a way to kill himself. His heart ached for Reggie, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to able to live and give the doctor children. 

It felt like he had lain there for hours, shivering, when he heard the door open. He didn’t raise his head, not caring what new torment had arrived. Was it Sunday already, when the doctor was due back? He had lost track, and wasn’t sure it mattered any more. If it was going to happen, better it happen quickly. 

The bed dipped beside him, and he tensed. Surely he wasn’t ready yet? His heat had only just started, it usually took a couple of days to get fully under way. But the hand that touched his shoulder was soft. 

“Michael? Can you look at me please?”

He slowly sat up and turned towards Alison. Her eyes were red, but they had a determined look. 

“I need you to hold out your arm for me.” He looked down and saw she was holding a syringe. “I need you to trust me right now. OK?”

Mike bit his lip. He wanted so badly to trust her, but right now everything was so wrong. Hesitantly, he held out his arm. 

Alison released the breath she was holding. Taking the proffered arm, she pushed the needle in, emptying its contents. “I want you to listen to me very carefully, OK?”

He nodded, his eyes fixed on hers. “You’re obviously coming down with some kind of virus. That’s what’s making you feel hot and dizzy. I’ve given you some drugs that will help, alright? They’ll bring your temperature down and make you feel more comfortable. Do you understand?”

Mike felt dazed. Had she been wrong earlier? Was this just the flu? His head was fuzzy, and he knew he was missing something important. His confusion obviously showed as cupped his chin and made sure he was looking straight at her. 

“I know you’re not feeling well, and it’s difficult to concentrate right now, but you’ll feel better soon, I promise. Your temperature will be back to normal by morning. _Do you understand?_ ”

Sudden realisation hit him, and his whole body sagged with relief. He threw his arms around her neck and clung to her tightly; after a few seconds, she returned the hug. Leaning into him, she whispered in his ear. “It’s only temporary, but it will delay it for a week. If he doesn’t suspect, I can give you another shot then, OK?”

Mike didn’t respond, just clung onto her as if his life depended on it. Eventually, he released his hold and sat back, looking up at her with his eyes shining with tears he still refused to shed. His voice was so quiet she could barely hear him. 

“Thank you.”


	19. Chapter 19

“Are you kidding me?” Donna glared at Harvey over her coffee mug. “Every other day this week I’ve had to drag your ass out of bed, and now it’s Sunday and you could legitimately have a lie in, you’re up and, frankly, way too awake.”

“It’s Sunday, Donna. You know I always go for a run early on Sundays when it’s quiet. You’re up and dressed too, so you can’t talk! Why don’t you join me?”

“Why don’t you go shove your-“

“I shall take that as a no.” 

“Good plan. Go on then, go run, or job, or whatever. I’m going to stay here and enjoy your expensive coffee and then have a long soak in a bubble bath.” 

“You do that, princess. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Want me to bring you some brunch?”

“God yes. Pastries, many, preferably filled with chocolate. Is that your cell?”

Harvey groaned at the realisation that it was indeed his cell ringing, and then groaned again when he saw Louis’ name. 

“Louis! To what do I owe the pleasure so early on a Sunday morning?”

“What’s the matter, Harvey? Did I interrupt your beauty sleep? Some of us have been up and working for 2 hours already.”

“Some of us get our work done during the rest of the week so we don’t have to. Cut to the chase, Louis. What do you want?”

“I want the number of that little hacker you know.”

“That what? Hacker?”

“You know, that girl M- … that girl you had help out with the financials that time?”

Harvey flinched at the realisation that Louis couldn’t even bring himself to mention Mike’s name. 

“You mean Lola Jenson? Why do you want her number?”

“It’s not me who wants it exactly. I spoke to Katrina last night, and she says she might have something for us. Apparently she’s got hold of Senator Mitchell’s cell phone, or the remains of it anyway.”

“The remains? Louis, can you be a bit less cryptic and spit out what you’re trying to say? Start from the beginning.” As he said this, he clicked the cell onto speaker so Donna could hear as well. 

“OK, so Katrina was at the campaign headquarters yesterday, like she has been all week. And frankly, I don’t think she has got enough credit for going above and beyond the call of duty here. She could have been in danger the whole time if the Senator had found out, and she…”

“LOUIS! Yes, Katrina has all our thanks, but right now I’d like to know exactly what for.”

“Oh, right. So anyway, according to Katrina, the Senator was acting perfectly normally until he checked his messages and then went completely off the deep end. Swearing, screaming, the whole shebang, ending with him throwing his cell phone at the wall.”

“Does Katrina have any idea what the message was?”

“That’s where your little criminal friend comes in. Katrina managed to grab the remains of the cell, but she can’t get into the memory. I figure either Miss Jenson will know how or she’ll have some convict friends who might.”

“Louis, Lola isn’t a criminal. She was never arrested for anything.”

“Sure, whatever. So, her number?”

Harvey sighed. “I guess we have nothing to lose. I’ll send you her details, just don’t go antagonising her.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! Why would I…”

“Like calling her a criminal to her face? Lola has a temper, don’t piss her off. And let me know if she comes up with anything.” He hung up before Louis could answer and quickly sent the text with Lola’s number. 

“Well it’s a start, isn’t it?” Donna was watching him carefully. “I mean, if something has pissed Senator Mitchell off that much it must be a good thing, right?”

“Maybe… Or maybe his football team lost yesterday.”

“Harvey, do you want to talk about…”

“I’m going for my run. I’ll see you later Donna.”

Donna sighed as Harvey slammed the door behind him, and flicked on the TV, cursing men in general and Harvey in particular for the inability to discuss their feelings. The news clearly wasn’t going to help her mood; there were more reports of riots and arrests, with an increasing number of omegas being hospitalised from random attacks by betas and alphas. The reporter was currently interviewing a spokesperson from the omega camp in Central Park, which was getting bigger by the hour as more and more joined. She rolled her eyes as the reporter asked, in apparent seriousness, whether the omegas in the camp felt vulnerable with no alphas to protect them and was leaning forward with the remote to switch it off when movement in the background of the picture suddenly caught her eye. Silently thanking Harvey for having Tivo, she re-wound the report, hitting pause suddenly. 

“Son of a …!” 

Pausing only to grab her handbag and keys, Donna jumped in the elevator, and practically ran out of the building, jumping in one of the cabs that seemed to permanently live out the front of Harvey’s building. 

“Central Park, as fast as you can.”

-

Alison hurried down the corridor towards Mike’s room, hoping that Dr Jackson wouldn’t find out she was twenty minutes late giving him his meds; she’d lost track of the time doing research into omegas’ heats, trying to find reasons for irregularity or them not occurring at all. 

She burst through the door, out of breath, and immediately froze. Jackson was already there, sitting on the bed next to Mike, who was curled up in the foetal position, facing away from the doctor, blindfolded as always. Dr Jackson didn’t turn around as he spoke. 

“Running late, Dr Williams?”

“I am so sorry, I was catching up on some paper work and I just lost track of the time.”

“It’s quite all right, Dr Williams, I understand. Do take a second to get your breath back before you pass out.”

Alison lent back against the door gratefully. Taking deep breaths, she realised suddenly that he still hadn’t turned around, and instead remained bent over the omega next to him. Mike himself hadn’t moved, but now she was no longer panting she realised she could hear him making quiet, distressed noises almost like whimpers. Feeling suddenly deeply apprehensive she moved slowly towards the desk to pour a glass of water, her back to the bed. 

“Did you start him on the new course of injections yesterday?”

“I…er… yes Doctor. As we discussed.”

“Good. We must have him healthy after all for the next stage of our research. The foetus must have the best care possible.”  


At the mention of a foetus, Alison turned round, ready to argue that maybe it would be in the prospective baby’s best interests if Mike was caused less stress, but the words died in her throat. She could now see what Dr Jackson was doing; he had one hand grasping Mike’s thigh while the other was pushed down the back of his boxer shorts. The thin fabric did little to cover up the rapid movement of his wrist as he moved his fingers in and out, roughly. Mike’s wrists and ankles were both bound together, keeping him completely immobile. 

“I can, um, see your busy, so if you just let me know when you’re, um, finished, I’ll come back with his meds.”

Not waiting for a response, she fled the room.

-

Donna hurried through the camp, searching for the area she had seen on the news report. The camp seemed even bigger than it had on the TV, bustling with life and activity. It put her more in mind of a festival than the scene of a large scale demonstration; food stalls had sprung up in between the tents, there were children’s play areas, and she passed several groups where someone had sat down with a guitar and started playing. Certainly none of the omegas she passed seemed ‘vulnerable’ without alphas around. If anything, they seemed at ease, relaxed even, despite the circumstances. Even so, Donna was nothing if not observant, and she could sense the tension in the air. 

After nearly an hour of searching, she finally ended up at the area she was seeking. The same spokesperson from earlier, a petite First Nation omega, was patiently, if a bit wearily, answering the same questions over and over. No, they weren’t worried about the lack of alphas here. No, they had nothing to do with the bomb or the shooting, and they had never heard of the group who had claimed responsibility. No, they didn’t want to cause trouble, all they wanted was the same rights they had had before returned to them and the curfew lifted. 

This was obviously the strategic centre of the camp. Along with the interviews, she spotted several, slightly harried-looking, omegas running around with clipboards, generally a sure sign that someone is doing a difficult job. There was also a large tent with a red cross roughly painted on the front, presumably a makeshift medical centre. Next to this, seated at a makeshift desk piled high with books, she finally saw what she had been looking for.

“Excuse me, I have a legal problem I’d like some advice with. One of our omega employees has gone awol, and with the current situation we’re all just desperate to find her in case she’s in any danger. Do you think you could help with that at all?”

“Donna, I…”

“Save it, Rachel. Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been? Your dad was going crazy with worry! You even had Jessica going to look for you at the office. You couldn’t have called, let us know?”

Rachel’s initially apologetic tone disappeared immediately as she rose to respond. 

“Oh please. Crazy with worry? You mean he called Harvey and passed the worry on to him. If he did more than check my apartment I’ll die of shock. And was Jessica looking for me, or for the books I’ve borrowed?”

“That’s not fair, she was concerned…”

“Oh, I’m sure she was. It wouldn’t do for the most _omega-friendly_ law firm in New York to lose two omega employees in the space of a week, would it? I stood there and listened to all that bullshit about helping, but exactly was she planning to do, apart from enforce a buddy system to get us home? Well that isn’t good enough, Donna. This is my life and my future we’re talking about, and right now I can make a difference being _here_. 

Donna sighed. “OK, can we start this conversation over, but this time I won’t be a bitch and you’ll be less angry? Please? You can at least accept the fact that I’m here because I was worried about you. I spent the whole of yesterday calling everyone I could think of who might know where you were.”

Rachel deflated slightly and sat back down, gesturing at the seat opposite. “I’m sorry, I’m not angry at you. I’m just… this whole situation is such a mess. How did you know I was here anyway?”

Donna turned and pointed back towards the cameras. “You got a little face time there. If I hadn’t been looking at that moment I’d probably have missed you.”

“First time I’m on TV and I didn’t even know. Look Donna, I’m sorry, I am. Cell phone signal here has been terrible. Monica thinks they might be deliberately blocking it, otherwise I would have called. But I had to get here first, my dad would legitimately go crazy if he knew what I was doing.”

“I get that you want to help, but we need you at the office. We have boxes of files from omega shelters all over the city and the ORO won’t let anyone but omegas look through them. You’re the best researcher we have anyway, we need your help.”

Rachel looked agonised at this. “I want to help, but Donna, I’m needed here. You don’t know how hard it is finding omegas who have legal training. I know I bitched about Pearson Specter, but most firms don’t hire us. They need me more than you do right now.”

Donna shook her head, at a loss for once. “I understand, Rach, I do. But I’m really not looking forward to telling Jessica.”

“It won’t be so bad. If she’s so keen to be shown as omega friendly she may even see it as a good thing.”

Donna suddenly broke into a grin. 

“Rachel, you’re a genius. I think I’ve figured out a way to solve all our problems in one go. Come on, get your things, we’re heading back to Harvey’s. This place might have plenty of amenities, but I bet you’re dying for a decent coffee.”

-

Alison had been staring at blankly at the computer screen in front of her for over half an hour. She knew she was being irrational; she could hardly claim to have been unaware of what had been going on when Dr Jackson visited Mike, especially after the way she had found him on Friday night. She had known from the start that a large portion of the experiments he was conducting were of a sexual nature, which was only to be expected when the subject was an omega. She just needed to analyse her own feelings and try to determine what it was that was making her upset this time. She was a scientist, after all, and science had no room for sentimentality. 

Deep in thought, she nearly jumped up in surprise when she heard the door shut behind her. 

“I’m sorry, Dr Williams, did I startle you? I know how focused you can get when you’re researching.”

“No, not at all, Doctor. I was just a little lost in thought.”

“It happens to all of us, Alison. Michael is free to have his injections now, if you aren’t too busy. I appreciate that the schedule has become a little lost today.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. I’ll go now.” She opened the small refrigerator beneath her desk and removed the relevant vials, then paused. 

“I was just wondering something…”

“Yes? I believe we’ve had this conversation before, where I’ve assured you that you can ask me anything.”

She blushed at the gentle admonition. 

“I spoke with Michael about his gift. I gave him the IQ tests again – it’s extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It is indeed. I assume you can understand now why I chose him, and why it’s so important that we enter the next phase of the experiments, to see if it can be passed on to any offspring, and possibly even improved on.”

Ignoring the implied question, she continued. “But I’m a little confused about something. Michael said you told him that you were aware of this the whole time. If you knew, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Ah, that’s what’s concerning you, is it? You’re worried I don’t trust you?”

He smiled, paternally, at her. “Yes, I knew. As to why I didn’t tell you, there are two reasons. The first is that I was curious how he would react to your tests. I wanted to see if he would be honest, or if he would try to conceal it, as indeed he did. I believed that if you knew, it would colour how you reacted to him.”

“But after the test, when we discussed his results… You could have told me then.”

“Yes, I could. And I’m afraid that that is connected to the second reason. I was testing you, as well as him. I wanted to see whether you would discover the truth on your own, and if so, how long it would take you. I am very serious about the work that goes on here, and it is important to me that those I trust to carry out my research are capable of getting to the truth.”

“But I didn’t. I didn’t see through him at all. He told me himself; if he hadn’t, I still wouldn’t know.”

She looked crestfallen at the revelation that she had somehow failed the test she had been given. 

“Dr Williams, I think it is important that you understand that I am not displeased with you.”

“You’re not?”

“It is obvious to me that you have gained the boy’s trust - he would not have told you the truth if you hadn’t. This experiment is long term, Alison. Gestation time alone is, of course, nine months. It is vital that the subject should feel able to confide in someone during that time. I am not so short sighted as to believe that person might be me, even after we are bonded. And, naturally, any revelations gained through such confidence will be vital to the research.”

“Right. Of course. Thank you for being honest with me. I’d better go and give him his meds.”

“One more thing, before you go. Just in case you are still concerned that I am disappointed in you.” 

He held up a thick envelope he had been holding that she hadn’t noticed in her distraction.

“I assume you are aware of the conference on omega neurology taking place in Miami this week?”

“Yes of course. There are several discussion panels that look fascinating, I’m hoping to read up in it when I have the time.”

“No need, I have booked you a ticket. You fly out first thing tomorrow, returning early Thursday.”

“Oh my god. Are you serious?”

“I understand it is short notice but I think the benefits should be ample. I am particularly keen to hear your thoughts on the discussion regarding pain and submission, and whether they are a natural part of an omega’s biology or a societal construct. I know that is an area you are interested in.” 

“Yes, of course… I mean, this is an amazing opportunity. Thank you! But my duties here…”

“I am quite sure I am capable of giving Michael his medication, although I cannot promise to bring him expensive coffee every day.”

She blushed again, and started to apologise, but he waved her off. “I suggest you go and attend to your patient, then you should go and pack. I’m sure myself and Michael will manage without you for a few days. We shall just have to find ways to amuse ourselves, won’t we?”

-

“You do know that if Harvey and Jessica refuse to go with this I’m heading straight back?”

“Oh please, you insult me. Like I don’t have Harvey wrapped around my little finger. I could persuade him to go down there himself if I had to. This will be a breeze.”

“What will be a breeze? And hello Rachel, good to see you’re not dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Rachel rolled her eyes, and sat down primly on one of the bar stools at the counter, folding her arms in front of her. 

“Yeah, you’re right Donna, I can see how out of his mind with worry he was. This isn’t going to work.”

Donna ignored her and sat down on the couch next to Harvey. She knew him better than Rachel did, and could see the relief beneath his flippancy. 

“Rachel has been helping the omega camp in Central Park with their legal problems. She is, understandably, concerned that if she returns to Pearson Specter tomorrow they will left without support.”

“Seriously? Rachel, Pearson Specter should be your priority. I’m sure Donna has told you how we need your help with the ORO’s files. The camp can go get someone else to give them free legal advice!”

“Huh, funny you should say that.”

Harvey narrowed his eyes. He recognised Donna’s tone, and knew that what she was about to say would probably end up causing trouble for him. 

“You’re plotting something.”

“Harvey, I don’t plot. I problem solve. And right now I have the solution to three problems at once. One, Rachel won’t leave the camp without someone there to help them, which means we don’t our best omega paralegal looking through the ORO’s files. Two, Pearson Specter in general and you and Jessica in particular are keen to be shown as supportive to the omega rights campaign. Three, Jessica wants the partners and associates to do more pro bono. I think the solution is pretty clear.”

“Now hang on…”

“Come on Harvey, I’m not suggesting you get your Testonis muddy by going down there yourself, although lord knows it might do you some good. We have a plentiful supply of willing and eager associates who I’m sure will be more than happy to go and help out. The opportunity to be out from under Louis’ thumb alone should be enough for half of them.”

Harvey sat back, considering. 

“A lot of our associates are alphas. Will the omega camp be willing to have alphas amongst them?”

“We can ask – persuade them that it’s fostering a sense of cooperation. And if they say no, we still have plenty of betas for them to choose from. Or our newly outed omega.”

She could see he was still wavering, so she finally dealt the killing blow. 

“And you never know, if we have people there, in the middle of everything, they might hear useful information. They may even get a lead on where Mike is.”

Harvey looked up with a start. He could see in Donna’s eyes that she knew it was a low blow, but he couldn’t deny that she had a point. 

“Alright, I’ll speak to Jessica. But it’s ultimately her decision.”

“Of course it is. But we all know how much she relies on your good advice.”

“Don’t push it, Donna.”

He rose to pour himself a scotch.

“Oh, there is one other thing we need to deal with.”

“Of course there is. And what is that?”

“Rachel can’t stay at her apartment on her own. I think the sensible thing is if she stays here with us.”

“What?”

“WHAT?? We did NOT discuss this, Donna! Harvey, this was never part of our agreement.”

“Both of you listen to me. She’s an omega, it’s not safe right now to be alone in her apartment. Rach, the only alternative is staying with your dad, and you know how that will go. If you stay here, we can all travel together with Ray, solving any issues with the curfew.”

“Do I get any say in this?”

“Not really. Besides, you know it makes sense. Rachel and I can share the guest room easy enough. Come on, use your heads.”

“If, and I do mean if, I agree to stay here, I want your word that you will not keep anything from me.”

“Like what? We’re not the ones who disappeared without telling anybody!”

“Like what’s going on with Mike. I want to know exactly how far you’ve got in trying to find him, and I want to help.”

“Some of the details aren’t really suitable…”

“Screw you Harvey. He’s my friend. I may be an omega, but I am not a wilting, delicate flower who can’t deal when things get rough. If I’m wrong, and you’re not doing everything in your power to find him and bring him back, then say so and I’ll go right now.”

Harvey wiped a hand down his face, suddenly exhausted. 

“You’re not wrong.”

“Then let me help.”

He drummed his fingers on the bar. 

“Fine. Donna, call Ray and you and Rachel can go pack a suitcase and bring it back here while I talk to Jessica.”

Donna clapped her hands with glee. “I know this isn’t ideal for anyone, but just imagine it’s a big old slumber party!”

“Donna, don’t push it. You’re a beta, I could send you home right now and no one would blink.” 

“Eh, you could, but then you’d be stuck just you and Rachel. I’m sure you’d have plenty to talk about without me here.”

“For the record, while I know you genuinely want to find Mike, I’m still not convinced that Pearson Specter has any interest in helping omegas as a group beyond what’s good for their PR. I hope you and Jessica can prove me wrong.”

As the two women left, Harvey downed the scotch he was clutching. He had a feeling he’d be needing to buy a new bottle very soon. 

-

Alison was relieved to find Mike untied and sitting up when she entered the room. He was scratching Reggie’s belly, but looked up and greeted her. 

“Hey sweetie. How are you doing?”

“I’m OK.”

She frowned, unconvinced. 

“Seriously. It’s not like it’s the first time…” 

She winced at this, but he continued. 

“I mean, I’d be lying if I said I was getting used to it. But there’s nothing I can do, right? And it’s not like it’s really me he’s doing it to.”

Baffled, she sat down next to him. 

“OK, Michael, you’re going to have to help me with this one. What do you mean by ‘it’s not you’?”

“I’ve been thinking it all over. It’s not like I have anything better to do, right? Than think, I mean. Like, I’ve been going over the things he says to me. How I’m a whore, that this is what omegas are for, that my body is designed to be used by an alpha…”

“Honey, no…”

“No, but listen. The more he talks about my body, the less it matters. Because it’s just flesh, right? Like… look at Reggie.”

She looked down at the puppy, sprawled on his back on Mike’s lap, looking utterly blissed out as his belly was scritched by his adored master.

“Okay…”

“His paw was damaged, right? So you took it off. But he’s still so happy. He’s still the same Reggie.”

“I’m still not following this, Michael, help me catch up.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not explaining myself well. It makes sense in my head. The thing is, the paw you removed was just flesh. It was a physical part of him, but it wasn’t what made him HIM. Dr Jackson can hurt me, he can cut my feet up, he can beat me… But it doesn’t matter. It’s not me.”

He tapped his head. 

“He can’t touch me in here, right? That’s the important thing.”

Alison bit her lip. He was staring right into her eyes, the intensity of the blue irises fixed directly on her, willing her to agree. It didn’t escape her notice that he hadn’t referred to the main issue with Jackson; the beatings and the injury to his feet were of secondary importance to the sexual assaults he was suffering, and she knew that right now he was deeply in denial. On the other hand…

“You’re right. And I’m glad you’re thinking that way because I’ve got something to tell you. I’m going away for a couple of days.”

Mike instantly paled, but tried not to show his fear. 

“You getting a vacation finally?”

“Hah, I wish. No, I’m being sent to a conference. There are some seminars that could be really useful to my research, and Dr Jackson thinks it’s important that I go.” She paused, trying to gauge his reaction. “It’s only until Thursday. Just three days.”

He forced a smile on to his face. 

“I know you’re worried about leaving me, but you shouldn’t be. I’ll be fine! You’re right, it’s only three days. I mean, you’ll be back by the time I need another shot, right?”

“Yes, of course! You’ll be fine until the weekend, there’s no danger there, I promise.”

She studied his face. “You’re sure you’ll be OK?”

“Absolutely. I have Reggie to keep me company. You’ll make sure you leave him enough dog food, right?”

“Of course I will. And I’ll see if I can even bring you back a souvenir if you’d like?”

“That would be great. You better go and pack, right?”

She looked at her watch, and jumped up immediately. 

“Oh dear, it’s later than I thought. You’re right, I have a lot to do before tomorrow morning.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “You be good while I’m gone, OK?”

He nodded, and kept the smile fixed on his face until she’d gone. He knew she’d worry about him anyway, but he hoped he’d at least managed to minimise it somewhat. Besides, he wasn’t lying to her, was he? He would be fine. Jackson could hurt him, but that was all, it didn’t have to affect him past the actual physical pain. It was just a matter of staying strong in his own mind. As long as he stayed strong, he’d be fine. If he allowed what the Doctor was doing to affect his mind when it didn’t have to, it just meant he was too weak to deal with it, and hadn’t Harvey told him enough times that there was no place for weakness? It was simply a matter of strength of character. If he was weak, then frankly he deserved everything he got.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this has taken so long, life has kind of overtaken me. Thank you all for being so patient.

Mike finished making what looked suspiciously like a fort out of towels on the floor of the bathroom, then sat on his heels to admire his handiwork. 

“What do you think Reg, think you’ll be comfortable in here for a couple of days?”

The pup scrabbled at the middle of the pile, rucking it all up, then sat down with a contented look on his face. Mike sighed. 

“Fine, you get it how you want. It’s you that’s got to live in here.”

He stood up and opened the door, but Reggie jumped up to follow him. Mike bent down, and blocked the puppy from heading through the door, wincing at the confused expression on his little face. 

“I’m sorry little guy, but it’s for the best. I’ll come into feed you and play with you as much as I can, but while Alison’s not here, Dr Jackson is going to be giving me my meds and … stuff, and I think it’s better you’re not underfoot when he comes in. I’ll let you out as soon as he’s gone… as soon as I can.”

He shut the door quickly, and leaned back against it, trying to ignore both the whining and scratching that started up from the other side and the guilt gnawing at him. After a few minutes, he sagged with relief as the silence fell. He hoped that Reggie would get himself comfortable and fall asleep until he could be liberated. Climbing up onto the bed and slipping on the hated blindfold in preparation of Dr Jackson’s imminent visit, he hoped it wouldn’t be for long.

-

“They’re all in Conference room C. It looks like a lot, but – “

“…that’s because it is a lot, right?”

“Yeah. Sorry. Louis is going to make Tim Fielding help you out, though I don’t think he’s going to take much persuading.”

Rachel frowned at her friend. “The other associates better not be giving him a hard time about being an omega. The mood Jessica’s in they’d be asking for their pink slips.”

“I don’t think they’d dare, but you can bet they’ll be treating him different in some way. Spending time in the conference room with you will be a break for him.”

“It will be good to have someone helping, anyway. Do you think there’s anything to find?”

Donna shrugged. “Well, the cops want it for a reason. Harvey thinks it’s pretty suspicious, and he’s usually got a good nose for this. Let’s just hope he’s successful in court this morning.”

“What time will we know?” 

“They were first up, thankfully, so he should be back by 10.30.”

Rachel sighed. “In that case, I better get started in case he loses and we have to hand all these over.”

Donna patted her shoulder. “I’ll bring you a coffee.”

“You’re a lifesaver. Better make it two, I think Tim might need one as well.”

-

Dr Jackson entered the room, and smiled in satisfaction. 

“Good boy. You’re learning, I see.”

He walked over to the bed and stroked across the blindfold with his thumb. 

“When I have finally claimed you, I shall look forward to seeing your eyes. I’ve been told they’re particularly beautiful. Perhaps our children will be lucky enough to inherit them, along with your mind.” 

He felt Mike’s forehead and frowned. “I confess, I am getting tired of waiting. I had hoped you would be in heat by now. I am not, by nature, a patient man.” 

As he spoke, he produced a thermometer from his pocket, and pushed it between Mike’s unresisting lips. There was no point fighting this - in the grand scheme of things, he could think of much worse things to be put in his mouth.

“In Doctor William’s absence, I do hope you shall take the time to consider how lucky you are, compared to some omegas. Oh, I know you’re aware of the rumours about what Senator Mitchell gets up to. But I’m not just talking about that, I’m talking generally. It’s still unusual for omegas to have much of an education, and in your position you must have seen how rare it is for one to gain a law degree. Were you the only one at your firm? And that’s one of the more progressive law firms!”

Mike had to make an effort not to react to the doctor’s words. He knew what his intent was, to make him feel somehow grateful for being in this situation, but in fact his gratitude was centred on something very different, the fact that he clearly wasn’t aware of Mike’s lie. At this point, he couldn’t even say why it mattered to him, but it did, even if only out of the habit of trying to keep it a secret for so long. Besides, now that he knew that Jackson was aware of his brain it was somehow comforting to know that he still had one secret to keep. 

The doctor was still stroking Mike’s face absently as he talked. 

“What about all those other omegas? I’m sure you’ve seen the news. Omegas are several times more likely to be victims of violent crime and abuse. In another life, you could have ended up as a prostitute long before now, or even sold into slavery. And of course some countries are less… evolved than us here in the Western World. Here, you have rights. And when the new laws come in, you will be in an even better position, guaranteed to be looked after and protected.”

He checked his watch, then gently removed the thermometer. Reading it, he sighed loudly. 

“You know, I can’t help feeling that you’re being deliberately obstinate. You should have come into heat by now, and the fact that you haven’t suggests a certain bloody-minded stubbornness on your part.” 

Dr Jackson paused, then cupped Mike’s chin, turning him so, unseeing, he faced him. “It’s a shame that inducement drugs are so unreliable, not to mention illegal. Still… do you know, there have been studies into how to encourage heats naturally? Do you know what methods have been suggested? Answer me, boy.”

A feeling of dread overwhelmed Mike, stealing away any remnants of the relief he had felt at the doctor not knowing his secret.

“No, sir.”

“No… I wouldn’t expect you to.” He released his face, and instead took hold of his wrists, binding them each in turn to the restraints on either side of the bed. “The method most commonly suggested is simply to have lots of sex with a willing alpha. It’s thought the pheromones released by the alpha have an effect on the omega and bring them on. Interesting, no? At any rate, it will give us a chance to perform our own research. Sadly, that will have to wait until tonight, after my work is finished, as I wish to take my time. For now, we should continue with today’s schedule as planned. Dr Williams would be very disappointed in both of us if we neglected our commitments, wouldn’t she?”

At this, having restrained Mike fully, he started attaching the familiar electrodes to his forehead, arms, chest and thighs. For the second time that morning, Mike’s mouth was held open and a foreign object inserted, only this time it was a mouth-guard. “I appreciate that you don’t wish to speak to me unless necessary, but it’s possible you may still need your tongue, so I’d rather you didn’t bite through it. Now… let us begin.”

-

Riding the elevator up to his floor, Harvey took advantage of being alone for what seemed like the first time in days to lean back and shut his eyes. He felt like he hadn’t stopped moving since they’d taken on the ORO as clients, and as much as he loved Donna, it was a relief to have been away for the morning, even if it was in court. 

The ping of the elevator doors startled him abruptly from his trance, particularly so as he found himself face to face with his secretary, who did not look happy. 

“I’m sorry, did they build a tunnel between here and the Courthouse without warning? Or did all the phone signals just die at once? Because I’m struggling to think of another reason why you wouldn’t call as soon as you finished to let us know what was happening.”

“Nice to see you too, Donna.”

“Harvey…”

“I’m sorry, alright? I forgot to charge my phone and the battery died.”

“Are you kidding me? You _forgot_?”

“Well it’s just possible I have other things on my mind at the moment!”

Donna’s expression softened. “So what happened? Do we have to hand everything over? Because Rachel and that associate have been working all morning and haven’t found anything yet.”

“We got Judge Werner.”

“… Well shit.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? He found in our favour.”

“He what? The most miserable, crotchety son of a bitch on the whole circuit found in favour of you despite the fact you frankly had no case?”

“So, little known fact. Judge Werner’s only son is an omega. Guess where he is right now?”

“… Oh my god. He’s in Central Park isn’t he.”

Harvey grinned and headed towards his office, his assistant following at his heels. “I think it’s fair to say Judge Werner does not have much time for Senator Mitchell, or his campaign. They’ll appeal of course, but it will take a while.”

“Well it’s about damn time we had some good news.”

Harvey nodded in agreement as he set his briefcase down and sat down to boot up his computer.

“Don’t get too comfortable there. Lola’s here, she’s in Louis’ office, and I suggest you get over there before they tear each other’s throats out.”

With a heavy sigh, he rose again. “Is it me, or is this place a little too much like a kindergarten sometimes?”

Heading down the corridor, he heard the raised voices before he even got to the door. 

“You don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about, do you?”

“Of course I do, I make it my business to keep up to date with current technology!”

“And that’s why you suggested I download the Cloud to your computer?”

Harvey grinned as he opened the office door without knocking. “Ladies, I hope you don’t mind if I interrupt your discussion?”

Lola was sitting by the window, arms folded, glaring at Louis, who was sitting behind his desk, failing to hide the fact he had clearly been frantically googling the Cloud. Katrina was stood in the corner, the expression on her face best described as ‘long suffering’. 

Louis, to his credit, ignored Harvey’s cheap jibe. “I’m assuming by that shit-eating grin that you won?”

“Of course I did. When do I not?”

Katrina looked up, surprised. “The Senator is going to be really pissed.”

“Well that will make a change.” He turned to Lola. “Lola, good to see you. I hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here.”

Lola rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me? My dad is insisting on me using a personal driver everywhere I go. I feel like I’m 12 again with a chaperone.”

“I hate to say it, but it’s for the best, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. It just pisses me off that it’s necessary. I’ve always looked after myself. You know, he’s really getting involved in this whole shit.”

“In what way?”

“He’s been obsessing since the riots and everything started. It’s like he’s terrified he’ll suddenly find me in the middle of it.”

Louis snorted at this. “Like we’d be surprised.”

Glaring at him, she continued. “He’s even set up a support fund to help out financially. He’s donated a pretty big sum to the Central Park camp already. It’s weird, like he’s suddenly grown a social conscience.”

Harvey cleared his throat. “Well, people’s priorities change when they have a personal stake. Hopefully you’re here to help us make sure it’s only a temporary situation.”

She frowned, and shook her head. “I’ll try, but as I was just telling Mr Litt, this really isn’t my area, and this phone is pretty beat up. If he saved his messages to the sim then we may have a chance of getting in, especially if he’s one of those geniuses who uses 1234 as a password."

Louis turned red, and tried to subtly reach for his own phone without anyone seeing.

"If anything was saved to the actual phone then I'm afraid it looks pretty much like a write-off to me.”

Harvey nodded, unsurprised. “I understand, just please do your best.”

Lola stared at him. “Ok, what am I missing here? I get that Pearson Specter has a rep as _the_ omega friendly law firm, not that there’s much competition, but this isn’t about rep, is it? I mean, I’ve never even heard you use the word ‘please’ before”.

Harvey didn’t respond for several moments, his jaw set, as both Louis and Katrina turned to him to see how he would answer. Eventually, he sighed. 

“There have been a number of unsolved omega murders over the last eighteen months. Given the current… climate, together with some circumstantial evidence, we have reason to suspect that the Senator is involved.”

Lola stared at him in disbelief. “That’s… not actually surprising. But I still don’t get what this has to do with you. You don’t do criminal law here.”

Harvey looked away. “About a week ago, while we were investigating the Senator, Mike went missing. He’s not been seen since. We suspect… we suspect Senator Mitchell has something to do with it.”

Lola’s face turned ashen. “No. I mean, he can’t…”

He turned back to her. “We believe he’s still alive, but right now we need all the help we can get to find him.” He gestured to the bag of phone parts she was holding in her hands. “Starting with that.”

She stood, her jaw set with resolve. “I’ll call you as soon as I’ve cracked it. I’ll find a way, I promise.”

“Thank you.”

As she was leaving the office, she turned back and looked Harvey straight in the eye. “If I find any proof on this that he has something to do with Mike, promise me that you’ll destroy him.”

Harvey nodded. “Trust me on this. One way or another, if he’s hurt Mike, I will end him.”

-

Mike didn’t know how long he had lain there after Jackson had unstrapped him and left. His whole body was stiff and aching, and it hurt to even move his arm slightly, so he lay still and searched back through his memory to find any information he might have picked up at some point about the long term effects of electro-therapy. Finally, having finally admitted to himself he hadn’t ever read anything appropriate, he realised that he would have to move. Jackson would be back in later, maybe even in an hour or less, and he had to get himself feeling more human by then, and make sure Reggie was fed and cleaned up after. 

Moving very slowly, he clambered down off the bed, gripping the side for support for a long moment as his shaky legs warned of collapse. Taking a deep breath, he managed to open the door to the bathroom, where he was nearly knocked over by 11 lbs of beagle rushing head-first into his legs. He managed to avoid falling only by hanging on to the door frame, but soon gave up, and sank to the ground, whereupon Reggie wasted no time at all in clambering up on his lap. 

“Hey little guy! You miss me?”

It seemed that Reggie was trying to prove just how much, jumping all over Mike, and working himself up in a frenzy trying to lick every part of him at once. The excessively active dog wasn’t really helping Mike’s aches and pains, but right now he could live with them. He considered for a second what his current life might be like if he didn’t have Reggie, and shuddered. 

“I hope you’ve been a good boy for me in here.” He looked over at the newspaper in the corner and saw that he’d at least relieved himself there. Staggering to his feet, he wrapped it all up and shoved it down the disposal shute that was next to the toilet. “You are such a clever boy, aren’t you?” He frowned, though, at seeing he’d only eaten half his food. “Not hungry, Reg? I guess it doesn’t look to appetising does it.”

Sighing, he crawled over to the bath and started filling it with hot water. 

“You know, at home I tend to go for showers. But standing up is a bit tricky right now, so let’s be decadent, eh?” He rubbed the puppy’s head. “I think it’s probably time for you to have a bath anyway. So how about I have a soak, and hopefully feel more human, then I can give you a bath.”

This plan lasted all of 30 secs. Once Mike had slowly lowered himself into the almost scalding water, Reggie clearly decided there was no reason why they couldn’t kill two birds with one stone and jumped straight in. It took Mike nearly a minute straight to stop laughing, as he watched the pup learning to doggy paddle. “I guess throwing you in the deep–end does work.”

Reggie spent the next few minutes amusing himself by jumping in and out and making the biggest splash he could. As soon as Mike was confident that the pup wasn’t going to drown, he allowed himself to lie back and shut his eyes. The hot water seemed to be working at easing his aching body, but he knew it wouldn’t last. Besides, Jackson would be back later to test out his 'theory'. Eventually, the water became too cold to stay in, so he pulled the plug and climbed out, reaching for a towel to wrap Reggie in before turning his attentions to himself. By the time the message came over the intercom that he had 10 minutes to get prepared for Dr Jackson’s visit, both were dry, Reggie’s food and water bowls had been filled up, and the puppy was again shut away in the bathroom. 

As Mike climbed back onto the bed, ignoring the scratching from behind the door, he shivered. He needed to put the blindfold on, but wanted to wait until the last possible moment, so waited until the Dr announced he was outside the door. 

Instead, the door opened onto Spike, Butch clearly not needed for whatever was happening.

“Got a bit of extra medication for you before the doc comes along. You gonna resist?”

Mike’s gaze settled on the syringe in the orderly’s hand, then shook his head. He might have imagined it, but thought he could detect a note of disappointment on his face. 

“Fine. Give me your arm then.”

Mike held it out, and watched as whatever fluid was inside was pumped into him. 

“I suggest you get that blindfold on and lie down. The doc’ll be here in like 5 minutes, so you better be ready.” Spike then left, without even bothering to tie Mike into his restraints. Puzzled at this, Mike could feel his head start to spin. Wondering what the hell it was that he’d been injected with, he grabbed the blindfold, but it took him a couple of tries to get it on right, as his coordination felt off. Lying back on the bed, he felt the familiar dread flow through him at the fear of what Jackson was about to do. The only hope he clung to was that the drug Alison had given him would continue to work at least till she was back from her conference. Until then, he’d just have to take whatever Jackson threw at him. 

-

Alison threw her bag down on to the hotel room bed and collapsed after it, exhausted. She had gone straight to the convention from the airport and had only just been able to check in. Her mind was buzzing with the various panels and lectures she’d attended, but there was a corner of it that couldn’t stop thinking about Mike. She wasn’t naïve enough to assume that he’d be left alone while she was away, but she did hope that he would be able to cope with whatever was to happen, even if his coping method was in no way sustainable in the long term. 

Her thoughts turned to some of what she’d heard that day; most of the presentations had been in line with conventional wisdom surrounding omegas; they were by no means stupid, and could often be of at least average intelligence, but were prone to being too emotional or sentimental, and therefore unsuitable for the more skilled or high-stress jobs. Their proper place was in the home, or if necessary in menial or service jobs. She wondered where Mike would fit in with such theories. Was he a strange genetic mutation, an outlier who should not be counted, or was he evidence that conventional wisdom in this respect was wrong? 

She shook her head. She was doing what she always did, and getting caught up in the science. Right now, although it felt alien for her to admit it, it didn’t matter. Even if Mike hadn’t been so smart, if he’d been sub-normal even, it still wouldn’t excuse what was happening. She knew now that she had to try and stop it, she just didn’t know how. 

Going to the police was out of the question. For a start, they had no reason to believe her; the institute was a highly respected research facility, and Dr Jackson an internationally renowned omega specialist. Even if she could persuade the police to investigate, the security was too tight. Mike would be removed long before he could be found, and then how could she help? She was under no illusions that she’d colluded in his torture, if unwittingly, but she was also certain that if she hadn’t been around then his time there would have been even more unbearable. 

No, she’d have to return and try to work out an escape plan from the inside. For the moment, while she had relative freedom at this conference, she would have to see if she could find out some more information, starting with who he was and if anyone was missing him. 

-

As Mike lay there waiting for Dr Jackson, he began to realise what the drug he had been given was doing. His surprise at not being restrained had soon disappeared as whatever it was got into his system; the initial dizziness had prompted him to lie back, but this wore off quickly, leaving him instead feeling weak and sluggish. Before long, he realised he was unable to do little more than flex his fingers, his head feeling too heavy to lift. 

He heard the door open and the doctor come in, realising that for the first time his body wasn’t automatically tensing. If nothing else, he wondered if this might keep the pain down; as he caught himself thinking this, he would have laughed hysterically had he been able. _‘Always look on the bright side, huh Mike? You can’t move your limbs and you’re about to be raped again, but hey, at least you’re not tensing up!’_

He felt the familiar dip of the bed as Jackson sat down next to him, then the cool hand at his forehead as it had been that morning. 

“Still normal I see. Well, we’ll see how tonight effects that, won’t we?”

Dr. Jackson lifted Mike’s arm then let it drop, watching it fall limply. 

“It looks like the drug has at least fully taken effect. I find this more satisfying than using restraints in many ways. It’s much easier to get you in the position I want you if you’re not tied down, and I’m sure it’s more calming for you not to be fighting me all the time.”

He undressed Mike quickly, leaving him face-down on the bed, but there followed what seemed like several minutes of near silence. Mike could hear him moving about the room and opening the cupboards, his mental tension rising at the delay even as his physical form stayed lax. He started reciting in his head legal texts in the hope that it would be enough of a distraction to ignore what was about to happen to his body, but was suddenly shocked back in to full awareness by a cold liquid being dripped into the cleft of his buttocks. 

“I know you didn’t believe me when I told you that I had to be particularly rough with you last time because the Senator needed to see you as broken, but in general I do prefer those I fuck to not be completely ruined.” As he spoke, he started to work Mike open, making sure to use plenty of lubrication. “If every time I had sex with you it was like that, somehow I don’t think you’d last very long.” There was a long pause as he continued to prep him. “Besides. I like my omegas nice and tight, like you are right now.” He laughed, a sound which chilled Mike more utterly than anything he’d said up until then. “If I kept fucking you like a battering ram then before long you’d barely be able to feel me! And what good would that be to either of us, eh?”

After what seemed like forever, he rolled Mike’s unresisting body over onto his back. He had obviously taken off his own clothes whilst he had been preparing everything, as he now moved, naked, in between Mike’s legs, pulling his knees up on to his shoulders so he was completely exposed. 

“When I’ve claimed you, I shall teach you to ride me. You’ll like that, won’t you? For the moment, this will have to do, but you can’t expect me to carry on doing all the work.”

Mike felt the tip of Jackson’s penis pressing against his hole and knew that legal texts wouldn’t cut it. Instead, he desperately scanned his memory before settling on one of his favourite novels, and started to read it to himself on the back of his eyelids, forcing himself to focus on the words rather than on the feeling of the doctor once again penetrating his body. 

_“Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a land owner well known in our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, which happened thirteen years ago, and which I shall describe in its proper place…..”_

Jackson gazed down at the completely lax body beneath him as he continued to thrust. In the morning, he would take a blood sample and see if the evening’s activities had resulted in any change in his hormone levels. When he finally came, his pleasure was intensified with the satisfaction of knowing that he was, in his own small way, making a valuable contribution to the science of omega studies. Climbing off Mike’s motionless body, he turned his mind to the important question of what he would call the eventual paper he looked forward to publishing on the topic.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna apologise for another long wait between chapters, cos you're probably sick of hearing it! But I will apologise for any especially grievous errors in this one, as I'm medicated up to my eyeballs tonight so have prob let a lot of things go un-noticed! Sorry! Changes may well be made when I'm slightly more with it, but I wanted to get it up tonight. 
> 
> Love you all!

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Dwelling on things.”

“Dwelling… What do you mean dwelling on things? I’m working! Which, incidentally, is what you should be doing.”

“You’re not working, you’ve been tossing that baseball in the air for the last 45 minutes.”

Donna stood up from her desk and entered the office, sitting opposite Harvey, who was currently glaring at her with an indignant look on his face. 

“I’m thinking. I think better when I’m throwing a ball, you know that.”

“I do know, but it’s what you’re thinking about that bothers me.”

Harvey placed the ball carefully back on his desk, and with exaggerated calm said “So I shouldn’t be thinking about Mike? I shouldn’t be thinking about what Rachel and that associate have or haven’t found? Tell me, Donna, as you always have all the answers. How exactly do I stop thinking about that?”

She looked away for a moment, but almost immediately returned his gaze. “By carrying on with your job. Or by figuring out what we’ve missed. Or by working out a way to get the emergency legislation overturned. Or any one of dozens of alternatives which would mean you’re actually doing something rather than sitting there thinking about what you _haven’t_ done.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“For god’s sake Harvey, you’re a smart guy. You figure it out.”

And with that, she went back to her desk, purposefully shutting the door behind her. 

-

Mike had woken up that morning stiff and sore, but in a lot less pain than the last time he’d… well, less pain than the less time. As soon as he’d felt able, he’d staggered to the bathroom to free Reggie, who spent maybe 3 seconds sulking at his enforced exclusion before hurling himself at Mike’s ankles. He spent the next half hour firstly clearing up after the puppy, who was thankfully still remembering his housetraining, then having the hottest shower he could bear, ignoring the affronted whines coming from the other side of the door. 

“I gave you a bath yesterday, Reg, it’s not normal for dogs to actually enjoy it you know.” Speaking out loud for the first time that morning he couldn’t help but noticed how croaky and weak his voice sounded. As ridiculous as it was, he found himself pining for the coffee that he had briefly been allowed, knowing the hot liquid would soothe his throat, which was aching as if he’d spent the night screaming. 

Sighing, he finished drying himself off, flicking the towel towards Reggie and smiling as the puppy squealed in delight at the prospect of a new game, hurtling around Mike’s ankles on his three paws as if it was the most natural thing in the world. 

“Sorry little guy, gonna have to take it easy for a bit this morning. Think you’d be OK if we just had some cuddle time?”

Picking him up, he paused, replaying that last sentence in his head. “Oh god, that sounds like something an ex would have said to me. Just as well no one’s around to hear me or I’d never get laid again, right Reg?” As he said this, he winced, realising that getting laid again really wasn’t the problem. 

Clambering back on to the bed slowly, he lay back down, suddenly exhausted from the morning’s simple activities. Thankfully, Reggie seemed to understand, and was himself just happy to be back in the company of his adored master. As Mike curled up on the bed, he settled himself in his usual place, tucked under his chin as a warm, if slightly wriggle, extra cushion, and almost immediately fell asleep. 

Mike must have followed soon after, as the next thing he knew was the intercom lighting up, with the familiar voice coming through. 

“Good morning Michael. Please put on your blindfold.”

Shaking himself awake, he dislodged the small body lying against him and paused, wondering what to do with him. 

“The dog can stay, I’m afraid I shall only be brief.”

Oddly grateful, Mike reached for the blindfold and tied it on, habit now making it almost as natural as tying a tie would have been. He swallowed a particularly inappropriate laugh at the thought that Harvey would probably complain that the blindfold was too skinny; didn’t he know that to give the right impression as a kidnap victim he should use a wide blindfold?

Sitting back, he pulled a thankfully still sleepy Reggie into his lap as he heard the door open. 

“Did you sleep well, hmm? It’s much better to not have to fight, isn’t it? And of course I’m sure the orderlies are grateful that they don’t have to clean up any blood!”

Mike shuddered at the sound of the doctor’s chortle at his own joke. Given a choice, he obviously would prefer not to be covered in blood, but if there was an upside to such a thing it was the knowledge that Butch and Spike would have extra work to do. 

“Now, unfortunately I am busy today so will not be carrying on any tests for time being. However, I do need to check how last night’s little experiment has gone. Give me your arm please.”

Feeling nauseous at the thought of the previous night’s rape being considered a ‘little experiment’, Mike held out his arm, barely flinching at the needle which entered him. 

“There’s a good boy. And when I get the results back we’ll see if you’re any closer to coming into heat, won’t we?” He ran his hand through Mike’s hair, pausing to cup his face. “Then we can get rid of this annoying blindfold and I can see those pretty eyes of yours. I expect you’re worried that you won’t be attracted to me, but you shouldn’t be. Once I’ve claimed you, you’ll never look at another alpha again. You can trust me on that.”

-

Louis paused at the entrance to Harvey’s office and looked around suspiciously.

“So either I’m being punked or you’ve pissed Donna off.”

Harvey rolled his eyes at the other man as he sauntered into the office. 

“What makes you think I’ve pissed Donna off?”

“Because I usually can’t get within 15 feet of your office without your attack-secretary warning me off, yet here I am. Historically, this only happens on two occasions, either she has a rare day off, or she’s punishing you. I know this isn’t her day off, ergo…”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Louis blinked in surprise at Harvey’s change of tone, and was about to reply indignantly when he realised the other man was looking over his shoulder. Turning, he found himself face to face with Senator Mitchell, shadowed as always by the Amazonian alpha who acted as his advisor. 

“Good morning, gentlemen, I’m here for my files.”

Harvey stood, a smirk slowly spreading across his face. “See, that’s funny because I was right there in Court when the judge agreed that you had no right to them.”

Mitchell shrugged. “A clearly biased judge, who should have recused himself from the case immediately given the current whereabouts of his son. For all we know, Werner junior is involved in the terrorist organisation himself. Regardless, it won’t be long before we’re back in court with a judge who, let’s be frank, can see which way the wind is blowing. Why not save us all a considerable amount of time and expense and just hand them over now. We both know you have no case and are only stalling.”

Hands in his pockets, Harvey shrugged. “Case or no case, right now those files are legally in our possession and there’s not a thing you can do about it until you get us back in that courtroom.” He grinned at the Senator. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of them until we’re required to hand them over by whichever judge you manage to bribe.”

“That is a slander on Senator Mitchell’s good name…” the advisor’s outburst was stopped by Mitchell holding up his hand.

“It’s alright Ruth. He knows he has no case so has to resort to petty name-calling. Now, Harvey – may I call you Harvey? – you’ll forgive me if I don’t find your assurances to be particularly convincing.”

Harvey kept his face carefully blank. “Oh? In what way?”

“You don’t seem to have a very good record of taking care of things.” At this, he made a show of looking around the office, going so far as to peer out the door, winking at Donna as she strode towards them down the corridor. “You seem to have mislaid that adorable little omega who was here last time I visited. That’s rather careless of you, don’t you think? You can understand why I’m reluctant to trust you when you’ve managed to mislay your own property like that.”

“You listen to me you son of a bitch. If I find any proof, anything whatsoever, to connect you with Mike I will destroy you.”

“Now, that definitely sounds like a threat to me.” He gestured to Louis and Donna, who had at that moment entered the office and was glaring at the Senator with a venom usually reserved unfortunate temps. “And in front of witnesses too! Don’t worry, I shan’t press charges.” He checked his watch. “Sadly I’m expected elsewhere. You know how it is, judges to bribe, omegas to kidnap. That’s what you believe I spend my time doing, isn’t it? A pleasure as always. I’m sure I shall see you in court.”

With a smirk, he left them and headed to the elevators. His advisor broke her silence only once they were outside Pearson Specter.

“Senator, with respect I do wish you wouldn’t antagonise people quite so much.”

“Now Ruth, if I didn’t have a little fun now and again how dull life would be! And Mr. Specter is _so_ much fun when he’s upset.”  
As they reached his limo, he paused, considering. 

“My dear, would you mind terribly sitting up front with the driver? I need to make a brief personal call.”

“Of course not Senator.”

Once in the back of the car, he put the partition up and took out his newly replaced cell phone. 

\- 

Mike pulled the blindfold off and sat back against the pillows, smiling down at the small body that immediately climbed back onto his lap and made himself comfortable. 

“You really are the laziest dog in the world, aren’t you? Your namesake would _not_ be impressed. You’re pretty lucky that you’re with me, not him, and I like you just fine.” He sighed, absent-mindedly scritching the puppy behind his ears. “It’s not like we can exercise, right? I guess it’s just as well I’m living on those shakes, else I’d be getting fat in here. I miss riding my bike though. Pretty stupid, huh? Of all the things to think about, I pick a damn bike.”

Reggie gazed up at him and whined as if in sympathy. “Yeah, like you have a clue what I’m saying. You’re just happy as long as you get fed and keep having your ears scratched.” He frowned, and scratched at his own upper arm. “You know, it’s just as well this room is supposed to be hygienic and clean, otherwise I’d begin to think you have fleas.”

This earned him a reproachful bark. “OK, Lassie, I know you don’t have fleas. But something’s damn sure making my arm itch like hell. And yeah, I know I’m not supposed to scratch an itch, but it makes it feel better, so sue me.”

Reggie wriggled around until he was upside down on Mike’s lap, presenting his belly in what was possibly the least subtle hint in the world. “All right, I get it. If I’m going to scratch something it should be you. But it’s my turn next, OK?”

-

“What in god’s name just happened?” Louis was staring at Harvey with a mixture of confusion and shock on his face.

“I’m so sorry, Harvey, I was only away from my desk for five minutes.”

He waved his hand. “It’s OK Donna, it’s not like you could have done anything if you’d been here.”

“Harvey, I’m serious. Why did you have to antagonise him so much?”

“Me, antagonise him? He was the one who turned up here demanding papers he has no legal right to see! He came here looking for a fight!”

“And you gave it to him!”

“You’re damn right I did. Or do you think I should have just handed everything over?”

“There are ways of dealing that don’t involve ending one stay away from a physical fight.”

“Says the man who put a witness in hospital.”

Donna tried to interject. “Boys, stop it, this isn’t helping.”

“No, let Louis speak. I want to know what he thinks I should have done. Make nice with the man responsible for the mess this city is in right now? The man who, may I remind you, might actually be responsible for Mike’s disappearance? Should I have rolled over and said ‘of course Senator, anything you say.’ How would that have made me look?”

“THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU!” Louis’ face was flushed with rage. “When are you going to get it through your skull that not everything is about the great Harvey Specter? I don’t need reminding that he may know where Mike is, but maybe you do. Because what you just did managed to do two things, which is piss him off and remind him that hurting Mike hurts you. So congratulations, Harvey, because the only person who is probably going to suffer as a result of this is Mike.”

Harvey clenched his fists. “You think I’m making this about me? This is about Mike. All I’ve been doing is thinking about how to help him…”

“Bullshit! All you’ve been thinking about is what _you did wrong_. Even Mitchell noticed that, when he accused you of ‘misplacing’ him. This is about you obsessing over the fact that you didn’t claim him when you had the chance. _You_ didn’t look after him. Well guess what, Harvey, you didn’t! So get the hell over it. Stop thinking about what you didn’t do, and start thinking about what you should be doing now. Cos crap like this won’t help any other omegas out there and it sure as hell won’t help Mike, assuming he’s even still alive.” 

Just as Harvey took a step forward, Donna stood in front of Louis. “Go, Louis. Now!”

His anger swiftly dissipating at the realisation of how close he was to being punched, Louis fled the office. 

“Now calm down. Hitting Louis might feel good temporarily, but it won’t help.”

“How… how DARE he suggest that I’m not trying to help Mike!”

“That’s not what he said, we know you want to find Mike…”

“But you agree with him, don’t you? It’s pretty much what you said earlier, isn’t it? What was it? That I should be ‘doing something rather than sitting there thinking about what I haven’t done’?”

Donna looked away. 

“Fine.” He grabbed his coat. “I’m going out.”

“Where are you going?”

“Why does it matter? You obviously think I’m not doing anything useful here.” 

It took the combination of a supreme effort of will and years of practice for Donna not to make an extremely rude gesture behind Harvey’s retreating back. Shaking her head, she sat back down at her desk, ready to deal with the inevitable calls from people hunting her awol boss. 

-

Alison rubbed her eyes, and blinked at the screen. Every break between lectures and panels that day she’d headed into the on-site Starbucks to try to find information about Mike, but so far she was hitting a brick wall. She knew she didn’t have much to go on – an omega called Michael who worked as an associate in a New York law firm – but she had hoped she’d have found some kind of missing person’s report by now. She thought back to their first meeting, trying to wrack her brains for any information he might have given, but every time she remembered it she couldn’t help but think of how she had acted then. 

“God Ali, you’re such a moron.”

He knew that he had told her he had no family, but also that, to start with anyway, he had been convinced that he’d be missed at work. The lack of an obvious missing person’s report tended towards that being untrue, but maybe there was a different reason for it. After all, the second she’d started looking for a missing omega she was flooded with names, faces and dates. Since the attack, hundreds had apparently vanished; most, presumably, having fled to less omega-unfriendly areas. Some were no doubt in Central Park, or camps like that. But she couldn’t help wondering how many had been victims of people taking the chance that their loss simply wouldn’t be noticed or cared about in the current climate. It occurred to her, not for the first time, that Dr. Jackson had certainly been very fortunate in his timing. She paused at this. Fortunate wasn’t the word. He had known _something_ was going to happen, but what? Had he in fact known all about the plot beforehand?

She shook her head. Whatever the truth of the matter, that line of thinking was no use in finding Michael’s details. She checked her watch – 15 minutes till the next lecture. She was very tempted to skip it. “Omegas - myths and misunderstandings”. She’d heard this type of lecture before, and always found them a little pathetic. “You can’t ‘catch’ being an omega. It isn’t a disease. No, it’s not true that if an omega doesn’t get bonded to an alpha they can go insane. There is no evidence of that. It’s also not true that a lack of sex can cause physical repercussions…” and on and on. She’d read one paper where, in all seriousness, a scientist had claimed that excessive use of their brains, for example by reading too much, could cause sterility. 

On the other hand, she was determined not to cause any suspicion on her return. If she skipped lectures then Jackson might begin questioning where she had been instead. Sighing, she packed up her tablet and headed back towards the auditorium. With any luck, she’d find out some new, insane myths that she could entertain Michael with when she got back. 

-

“Harvey Specter. I’d like to speak to Detective Taylor please. He’s expecting me.”

The desk sergeant looked up at him, the kind of disdainful look on his face that Harvey, as a highly successful alpha, had not been subjected to in years. 

“I’ll see if he’s around.” The cop then went back to staring at his computer screen.

“Hey, I’m sorry. Clearly I wasn’t speaking loud enough. Detective Taylor is expecting me _now_ ”

Visibly rolling his eyes now, the cop did at least pick up the phone and call. “There’s a guy down here says you’re expecting him. Names Spenser or something. Sure.” Turning to Harvey, he said “he’ll be down sometime soon. Chairs are over there.”

Taking a deep breath, Harvey counted to ten, concentrating on the fact that assaulting an officer in his own precinct probably wasn’t the greatest idea. 

“I’m sorry, officer, have we met before? Did I insult your mother somehow?”

The man lent back in his chair insouciantly, and considered Harvey for a full minute. 

“You’re the guy from that law firm, right? The one that’s representing the terrorists that we’re trying to catch.”

Ah.

“Actually, I think you’ll find my firm represents the ORO, which has had no ties to any terrorist organisation.”

“So far…”

“And nor will it. Or do you take exception to any legal help for omegas at all?”

“I guess I just don’t understand how a successful alpha like yourself can defend people like that.”

“As I just said, the ORO…”

“They’re all the same, though, right? You can’t tell me that they’re all not in together. Thick as thieves, right? Damn sure I’m glad there’s none of them here. Yet here you, an alpha, defending them.” He lent forward conspiratorially, his voice lowered. “Between you and me, it’s the sex right? I mean, I respect that. I’ve heard they’re like animals when they’re heat hits.”

Harvey gritted his teeth, his fists clenched in his pockets. “I defend them _because as an alpha it’s my job!_ Protecting omegas is what we do. But a bigoted little shit like you would never understand, and frankly no omega with any self-respect would go near you in the first place.”

“Harvey! Good to see you, do join me in my office. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

“No, Elliott, I’m sorry for the short notice. Besides, I was having an enlightening conversation with one of your officers here.”

“So I could hear.” Det. Taylor turned to the officer who was suddenly sitting bolt upright. “I expect we shall be having our own conversation later.”

He beckoned Harvey to follow, and they made their way upstairs to a typically small, cluttered office, where he gestured to a seat covered in files. 

“Just put ‘em on the floor. That’s my usual filing procedure anyway. So Harvey, apart from arguing with my men, what can I do for you? I promised you faithfully that I’d let you know as soon as we have news, but right now there’s nothing for you.”

“I know, Elliott, and I’m sorry to keep pressuring you. But we had a visit from Senator Mitchell at the offices today and he might as well have made a full confession there and then!”

Taylor looked surprised at this. “Oh? What did he say?”

“He said he was there to try and get the ORO paperwork we’re holding but he made very specific references to my associate, as if he were taunting me. He couldn’t have made it any clearer that he’s behind it, and in front of witnesses.”

Elliott sighed. “Harvey, I know I don’t have to tell you the difference between making veiled references and actually admitting to something. Unless he said ‘Hey, I took your associate just to fuck with you’, or something similar, our hands are tied.”

Harvey got to his feet, angrily. “For fucks sake Elliott, he’s making fools of us and he knows it! We know there are links between him and that research institute, and you said yourself that the Senator’s behaviour was suspicious!”

“Harvey, I get it, you’re angry and frustrated because of your associate, but some of us have to play by the rules! I can’t just arrest someone for being ‘suspicious’, nor for investing in a medical practice which is, as far as we know, above board.”

“So you’re happy to let him get away with it?”

“Jesus, Harvey. Have you looked outside lately? Have you seen what shit is going down? Since Friday, there have been 7 separate riots, 18 bomb threats, which, while thankfully fake, we still have to investigate, we have this bullshit curfew to oversee, and that’s not even touching on the mess in Central Park and its other smaller variants around the State. And this is all on top of our normal day to day crime levels, and this is New York so I don’t have to remind you that it’s not a small thing.   
So I get it, Harvey, I do. And if it was one of my men I’d probably be tearing up this town to find him as well. But right now we just don’t have the manpower to investigate it on your words alone. You bring me proof rather than conjecture and I promise you I’ll go and arrest the son of a bitch myself.”

-

Jackson yawned wearily as he returned to his office. All the lights were off on the corridor, the support staff having long left for the day. He hated days like this, where he was stuck in what was seemingly an endless round of meetings about what seemed to him the most mundane matters. Once Dr Williams returned, he decided, it would be time to give her a little more responsibility and delegate some her way. 

Flicking the desk light on, he proceeded to glance through his messages, which were filled with even more boring queries than the meetings had been. If this was what management meant, then frankly they could keep it. He had barely had a chance to look in on Michael since he’d returned; the boy had been curled up asleep on the bed, his canine companion cuddled up with him. He had surprised himself by being struck with an unfamiliar feeling of affection at the sight, and had decided to leave him to sleep. After all, it wouldn’t be long until he could claim him officially and take him back to his own quarters. He frowned at the thought of the test results he would be getting the next day. If they still showed he had no signs of coming into heat, he may have to start considering bringing it on by more artificial means. 

He shook his head, not wanting to consider that yet, and turned his attention back to the messages, frowning when he saw the Senator had left a voicemail. As he listened, his face became a rigid mask. 

“ _Good morning Doctor, I’m sorry I couldn’t speak to you directly but perhaps that’s for the best. I received the pictures you sent, which showed the unfortunate damage, but I would still like to collect the package as we have previously discussed. In fact, I shall be coming to collect as soon as possible.”_


	22. Chapter 22

Light was barely breaking through the blinds in the Senator’s bedroom when he was woken by his cell phone buzzing loudly. Groaning, he reached over the body lying next to him, apparently immune to the noice, and answered with some annoyance. 

“Doctor Jackson. It’s a little early for a social call isn’t it? Although I can’t say I’m surprised as I thought you’d contact me as soon as you got my message.”

“Good morning Senator. I’m afraid that I didn’t get your message until late last night so thought it wise to call early this morning. I confess to being a little surprised that you are still… interested in the package, given the damage.”

“Oh Doctor, you would hate it if I were predictable. No, I have given the matter some thought, and decided that whether it is in mint condition or not is irrelevant. Although, I presume you have dealt appropriately with the staff member clumsy enough to cause such breakage.”

“Of course, Senator. We have a reputation to maintain amongst the community. There can be no question of impropriety.”

“I’m glad we understand each other. In which case, the only question remains as to when I can come and collect. I have rescheduled some of my meetings and can be with you early this afternoon.”

“I’m sorry, Senator, I understand you wish to claim your package as soon as possible, but we are still in the middle of some important tests…”

“…which I am sure can wait. Besides, I assume you have been looking into a replacement?”

“Of course! However there are still a number of bugs in the system. It would be better for all concerned if the unit was returned to its original condition before changing hands.”

“Oh for crying out loud doc, this is getting ridiculous. We’re not being bugged, just speak in plain English. What are you saying and how long are we talking? Cos I’m getting impatient here.”

Jackson sighed. Sometimes he felt as if he were dealing with imbeciles. “We have been conducting various tests that have necessitated him being given different drugs. I would strongly suggest that we keep him here under observation until they are out of his system in case of any unusual reactions.”

“How long?”

“At least two more days, preferably three or four.”

There was a long pause at the other end of the phone. “Two days then. The day after tomorrow.”

“And of course you need to return your previous package.”

“Dammit. And readying his quarters might take a while”

“Blood can be so hard to get out of fabrics…”

“Very well then. I shall return my current toy tomorrow and make sure my staff spend Saturday cleaning and arranging things. But on Sunday there will be no more delays, doctor. I _will_ be collecting my property. 

-

In his office, Dr Jackson hung up and flicked on the screen showing Mike’s room. As the Senator had pointed out, it was still early, and Mike was curled up asleep with his dog tucked under his arm, against his chest. Tapping his fingers thoughtfully, Jackson frowned. Something had obviously happened to make Mitchell change his mind; he had always been so adamant in the past that he wanted only ‘unsullied’ omegas to enjoy. Yet here he was, deciding to have someone’s leftovers. It didn’t make sense, unless there was something he was missing. He was almost certain that the Senator didn’t know about the boy’s mind, and even if he had, from past experience it wouldn’t be something that would interest him; he wasn’t collecting these omegas for their brains, after all. 

He sighed. Practically speaking, why the Senator had changed his mind made no difference. The end result was still the same – he had four more days at the most to find a way to make the Senator give up his ownership, preferably without causing either suspicion or bad blood between them. He touched the monitor gently; with any luck, in a few more days he could start planning their future. 

-  
“Dr Hendrix! Excuse me, Dr Hendrix!”

Without even glancing up, the alpha snapped her briefcase shut. “I’m sorry, I’m going to be late for my next lecture, I really don’t have time…”

Alison put her hand on the top of the case, at last causing the disgruntled doctor to look at her. “Please, I promise not to take up much of your time but I really need to speak to you about your lecture yesterday on the myths about omegas.”

“I’m sorry Miss…”

“Doctor. Doctor Alison Williams.”

“I’m sorry, Dr Williams, but if you wish to argue with me about my findings you’ll have to make an appointment with my secretary. I believe I may have a slot some time in 2017.” With that, she pulled her briefcase free and started striding away, with Alison having to jog to keep up. 

“No, that’s not…”

“If you’re here to accuse me of being a terrorist sympathiser or a traitor to alphas then I’m afraid you’ll have to get in line for that too. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

“Dr Hendrix! Please listen, just for a moment. I think you’re right about omegas. I believe the same as you, that they’re just as intelligent and capable as alphas and betas.”

Hendrix finally stopped and turned around, an astonished expression on her face. 

“You do?”

“Yes. And there is a patient of mine I would very much like to discuss with you.”

Hendrix considered the other woman for a moment. 

“In that case, I suggest we better find somewhere a little quieter to discuss things.”

-

At the same moment, the object of that discussion was lying back on his bed, one hand behind his head, the other tickling the small, restless body lying on his chest. 

“I know you want to play, but it’s hard playing ball when I can’t see, Reg. You’ll have to wait till the doc’s been and I can take off the blindfold.”

As if on cue, the door opened and he heard Doctor Jackson’s now familiar footsteps. 

“Good morning Michael. I hope you slept well.”

Mike was immediately thrown off by this. Since when did Jackson care how well he slept? Deciding that the question was almost certainly rhetorical anyway, he stayed silent as the bed dipped next to him, and instead held out his arm in expectation of the needle. 

As Jackson took hold of it, Mike heard him murmur “Good boy” and shivered. Once the blood was taken, he tensed, waiting to see if Jackson’s schedule would allow him some amusement, or if he would get a reprieve again. To his surprise, Jackson remained silent, holding onto his arm and lightly stroking his wrist with his thumb, gently rubbing the branded barcode. Eventually, he spoke. 

“Michael, I have something I wish to discuss with you, and I am afraid it is not good news. I am aware that I have given you the impression that due to my previous… relations with you, Senator Mitchell would no longer be claiming ownership. Unfortunately he has been in contact with me today to confirm that he is still intending to collect you.”

Mike’s whole body went rigid with tension. His first thought was ‘Thank fuck, I’ll finally get out of here’, but this was followed swiftly by the memory of what Alison had told him. Even after seeing what Jackson had done, she was still convinced he was safer where he was than with Mitchell, and while her judgment wasn’t always exactly sound, she had seemed genuinely frightened of what he might do. 

Jackson continued to stroke him, clearly misinterpreting Mike’s reaction as horror at the thought of being taken away. “Shh, it’s all right, little one. I have managed to delay until Sunday, and I still have hope that I shall be able to dissuade him when the time comes. In the meantime, I have promised to have you fit and healthy for him, so I am afraid my research will have to be put on hold, along with any other _activity_ we might have enjoyed.” He let go of his arm finally, and rose from the bed. 

“Under the circumstances, it is probably best that I do not spend much time in here. I fear the temptation would be too great for me. I shall have the orderlies bring you your meals until Dr Williams is back. You will not be receiving any more medication from me for the time being, so I will not need to oversee that.” He paused at the door, looking back at the silent omega. “Try not to worry too much. Even if I cannot dissuade him, the Senator rarely keeps a pet for long. With any luck it will merely delay my claim, not prevent it completely.”

As soon as the door closed, Mike pulled off the blindfold and sat up, pulling Reggie towards him in a desperate attempt to comfort himself. He knew he was being irrational. Nothing had really changed - he had known he was in an either/or situation with the two alphas. And really, this had to be good news; could being with the Senator really be any worse than being with Jackson? Apart from anything else, Senator Mitchell would have a lot of demands on his time so hopefully Mike would be left alone a lot. And presumably he would have to live in the Senator’s own residence, which may well give more hope for escape than the institute did. 

No, this had to be a good thing. And the fact that Jackson would be avoiding him until he was collected was simply the icing on the cake, even if he had been being uncharacteristically affectionate with him the last couple of days. Everything was suddenly looking up, especially with Alison due to return the next day. He just had to get over the feeling of dread that was irrationally pooling in the pit of his stomach. 

-

“I should apologise for my attitude earlier. It’s been rather a tense week, but that’s not really an excuse.”

Alison accepted the coffee she was handed gratefully. They had ended up back in Dr Hendrix’s hotel room so that they could speak without being disturbed. 

“Has it got that bad?”

Hendrix nodded. “Obviously I’m not trying to put my inconveniences on the same level as what omegas are currently experiencing in New York. But it’s fair to say it has not been easy since all this,” she waved her arm expansively, “happened. A fortnight ago I was generally thought of as a well-meaning kook, the scientific equivalent of those people who adopt dozens of stray pets, you know? Now I’m getting death threats and accusations of being a terrorist sympathiser.” 

“Death threats? Are you serious? Just for suggesting that omegas are brighter than generally assumed?”

Hendrix shrugged. “Right now, anything you say in support of omegas is seen as tacit approval of attempted assassination. It’s ridiculous, but these are the times we live in.”

“I’m impressed that you’ve managed to carry on lecturing under the circumstances.”

“Hah, I’d like to see them stop me. They’ve been trying for years and haven’t managed yet.”

“How on earth do you get funding? I’ve been trying forever to get my hands on research grants but It’s like nobody’s interested in what the results might be.”

“Of course they aren’t! Most of the rich donors, the 1% if you like, are alphas. They have no interest in finding out anything that might challenge their status quo. Heavens, women still manage to intimidate men enough, can you imagine if they had to deal with omegas on an equal footing? Their minds would explode. It’s bad enough for them that legally omegas are their equal, or at least they were until this last fortnight. Imagine if they were considered equal scientifically and socially as well?” 

She snorted. “Unfortunately for them, I’m their worst nightmare. An omega sympathiser with a trust fund.”

“You fund yourself?”

“I’m lucky enough to have come from a very wealthy family. My poor older brother was forced to follow in my father’s footsteps, of course, and run the family business, but I’m the youngest of three, so my parents were happy to indulge my ‘whim’ of becoming a scientist. When they died, I invested well and have been living very comfortably since, and have been able to support myself and my research. Which has no doubt disappointed those who would have liked me to shut up.” Hendrix shook her head. “I don’t know, maybe they’re right. Perhaps this week I would have been better keeping my mouth shut.” 

“Do you believe that omegas are behind the attempt then?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. In essence, my research boils down to the fact that omegas have just as much potential as either alphas or betas, that it’s only certain physical attributes that create their differences, not mental. If you accept that premise, then you also have to accept that they’re just as capable of atrocities as anyone else.”

“But what do you think?” Alison persisted. “Do you think they did it?”

She shrugged again, and Alison caught a certain glint in her eye that suggested she was choosing her words very carefully. “I really couldn’t say. But never mind that, we’ve talked enough about me. I’d like to know what this case study you’d like me to look at is about.” 

“I work at the International Centre for Alpha/Omega Research in New York. I take it from your expression that you’ve heard of it.”

Doctor Hendrix was frowning. “I have, and it’s not been good things generally. There was a lot of fuss a couple of years ago…”

“I know, but since all that happened, it’s been under new management, and a whole new research team; I was only brought in afterwards, and from what I understand that’s the case with every other member of staff, practically down to the janitors.”

“Fair enough, but my understanding is that the ICAOR doesn’t do any human research. Has that now changed?”

“It’s… complicated. The current project is extremely sensitive, so I’m sure you understand that I can’t really reveal too much about it. But actually what I wanted to speak to you about isn’t directly related to the research itself anyway.”

“Oh? Do go on, then.”

“I’ve been getting to know one of the test subjects… patients, I mean. He’s an un-bonded omega in his mid-twenties. Unfortunate, but not particularly unusual, family background, nothing that would suggest anything out of the ordinary.”

“But?”

“He’s brilliant. Not just for an omega, for anyone. I’ve never… I’ve never met anyone like him. He can remember everything he’s ever read. Everything. And it’s not just a memory trick, he understands it, he uses analytical thinking.”

Alison stopped, watching the other woman for a reaction. Hendrix sat there, staring at her. 

“If what you say is true…”

“It is.”

“… then omega or not, he’s certainly a fascinating case. There has never been a confirmed case of an eidetic memory, even in alphas.”

“But?” she echoed. 

“One person would not mean a lot as far as research goes. You cannot prove that omegas as a whole are capable of brilliance just because one is – he could be an outlier, a freak of nature if you will.”

“OK, granted. But it would prove that being an omega isn’t a _barrier_ to intelligence, wouldn’t it? I mean, it would shut up those Neanderthals who seem to think that an omega’s brain would overheat if they read anything more highbrow than a romance novel.”

Hendrix tilted her head in acknowledgement. 

“And I’m not exaggerating his intellect. He’s… I don’t know how to describe it. And he’s such a sweet kid…”

“I think I would like to meet him.”

Alison stopped in her tracks. Stupid, stupid woman. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? 

“That’s not going to be possible. Not right now, anyway.”

“Unless I actually speak to him and confirm what you say, it’s all just hearsay.” She studied Alison carefully. “What aren’t you telling me? Why is he your patient, if it isn’t connected to his mind?”

“I’m sorry, it’s confidential, I can’t tell you. You must understand that.”

Hendrix sighed. “I do understand about both patient confidentiality and the issues of non-disclosure with regards to your research. But you have to understand that there’s nothing I can do or say on your word alone, however much I want to help the omega cause.”

Alison stood, abruptly. “I understand, Doctor Hendrix. And I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time.”

Hendrix put her hand on Alison’s arm as she opened the door. “Think about what I’ve said. If there’s a way for me to meet him, it could be extremely beneficial for all of us, especially for the omega right’s movement.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything. Could I maybe send you my research notes? They might sway you.”

“Please do. I would be interested to read them. And if you can find any way for me to speak to this young man, contact me immediately.”

Nodding her assent, Alison left the room, shutting the door behind her. It was clear that there was no way she could arrange a meeting while Mike was still at the ICAOR. Somehow, she was going to have to help him escape. 

-

Mike was restless. Part of it, he knew, was boredom. Apart from his attempts to teach Reggie how to negotiate a complicated assault course (or as complicated as he could make out of what he had to hand, bearing in mind it was for a nine-week old, three legged puppy, i.e., not very complicated) he had nothing to do except sit and dwell on what had happened to him, and, increasingly, what was going to happen. 

He kept thinking about what Alison had told him about Senator Mitchell and tried to work out if it was likely to be a better situation, or that once there he’d start wishing he was back at here. His memory kept going back to the electro-shock therapy and, especially, his feet, which were still painful to stand on. The sexual assaults didn’t factor at all; any time he started getting close to thinking about them his mind skittered away and focused on some other memory, or turned back to whatever Reggie was doing. He was fully aware of this, and knew it was only a coping mechanism, but right now he couldn’t bring himself to care. It was about the only thing keeping him sane right now, puppy excluded, so even if it was unhealthy to suppress it in the long run, right now he felt pretty good about it. 

He was interrupted in his current musings by the intercom buzzing. 

“Hello again Michael, would you please lie down on the bed and put your blindfold on?”

Mike froze for a moment. After his earlier visit, he hadn’t expected the doctor to be back at all, yet here he was later the very same day. 

“Now, Michael.”

Scrambling to his feet, he grabbed the blindfold from the table and climbed back onto the bed. As he fastened it on, a soft whine reminded him that he’d left Reggie on the floor, but he didn’t think Jackson would take too kindly to waiting, so hissed “Sorry Reggie, you stay down there OK?”

As soon as he lay down, the door opened and he heard Jackson’s footprints, followed by a clatter that he assumed was something being put down on the table. He flexed his hands by his side, trying not to clench them with the tension of not knowing what was about to happen. 

“I know you weren’t expecting me again, but something has come to my attention which has warranted further testing.”

Mike shivered at this, wondering what this meant. The doctor clearly noticed as he laid a hand on Mike’s thigh. 

“I’m sure it’s nothing to be concerned about, just a slight anomaly that came up in your blood test.”

He felt the bed rise as the hand left his leg. Jackson carried on talking as he presumably went to get whatever it was that he had left on the table. 

“Now, as I told you earlier, Senator Mitchell has demanded that you be kept ‘clean’ for him, which means no further medication. I am therefore going to be monitoring you in a different way.”

Mike was surprised to feel a hand on his foot, lifting it up off the bed. He heard a click, and a second later the chain had been attached around his ankle was removed. Before he had a chance to wonder about this, he felt cold metal again surround it, and a louder click as whatever it was was shut. 

“I am probably being foolish in removing your chain – I could after all attach the monitor to your other leg. But I am putting my trust in you, little one. You’ve been such a good boy lately, haven’t you? Doing everything I’ve asked. So it is only fair that I show you some good faith in return. Especially if you may be leaving me in a few days.”

He paused. 

“I would be very disappointed to find that you had broken my trust, Michael. Very disappointed indeed. So far I have been very patient with you, merely correcting any …disrespectful behaviour. I am confident in my assertion that you would not like me to be disappointed in you. You would not find me as accommodating as I have been.”

Mike shivered at the thought of Jackson’s actions up until now being only ‘correction’. He silently agreed with the doctor’s assessment – he definitely didn’t want to find out how he would act if he was disappointed. 

“Now, it’s getting late so I must take my leave. Dr. Williams returns tomorrow – I expect you’re looking forward to that.”

Mike nodded uncertainly, not knowing what reaction Jackson was after. 

“I thought so. I am personally very much looking forward to speaking to her about what she has been up to. Good night Michael.”

As soon as he’d gone, Mike pulled the blindfold off and sat up to inspect his ankle, pausing only to lift Reggie up onto the bed after the pup barked to remind him of his continued exile on the floor. Seeing the device gave him no more information than before. It was a band of metal no more than an inch wide and maybe half that thick. It fit snugly against his ankle, but he could just about make out small metal bumps in regular intervals on the inside. After staring at it for a minute or so, he gave up and lay back down, pulling Reggie on top of him. 

“Well, I have no clue Reg, but I guess I’m not a doctor or scientist or whatever. Maybe Alison will know when she gets back tomorrow.” 

He scratched his arm; the itch seemed to be getting worse, but scratching at least brought some relief from that. Maybe he should ask Alison about that too.

“If we’re really lucky, maybe she’ll bring us some coffee.”

\- 

Alison was onto her fifth cup of the evening, and was beginning to despair. She had tried every resource she could find for missing omegas, starting in New York but widening the source further and further. Without a surname, it seemed like a hopeless case; Michael was not the rarest name in the world, and with the current chaos happening in New York, finding one missing omega was like a needle in a pile of more needles. 

She knew she was running out of time. Her flight was at 3am and once back in New York she knew it would be nearly impossible to carry on the search; she couldn’t say for sure that her internet was being monitored at the ICAOR but she couldn’t risk it. Sitting in the airport in an internet café was as safe as she could get right now. 

Ordering another cup, she turned back to the monitor, wracking her brains for anything Mike had said that might help identify him. She knew he worked for a law firm, but didn’t know which one and she certainly didn’t have time to search firm in New York for an associate named Michael. She couldn’t understand why nobody was looking for such a sweet kid. Why didn’t that alpha that he had mentioned care that he’d disappeared? Was he that oblivious? She stopped suddenly, realising she was on the verge of something. He was his boss, wasn’t he? What was he called? She scoured her memory for what he’d said about him. 

“Harvey! That was his name. Jesus, how could I forget. I made a dumb joke about rabbits.”

Michael may be a common name but Harvey wasn’t as usual. Changing her search, she started to focus on finding a Harvey in New York corporate law. It took barely five minutes before she was staring into the face of what she thought looked like a particularly smug alpha, albeit a gorgeous one. 

“Well, no wonder Michael was smitten.”

A few more clicks took her into Pearson Specter’s website where she found herself looking straight into the eyes of one Michael James Ross, associate. Her hands started to shake as she realised what she had found; there were no more excuses, she had to tell someone. 

Stopping only to take down the number and quickly clear any evidence of her search, she headed straight to the nearest pay phone. It was 2am, so she knew that nobody would be there, but maybe that was for the best. She could leave an anonymous message, jump on a plane and be back in New York before anyone knew what she’d done. 

-

Harvey threw the file down in frustration. 

“We’re wasting our time, there’s nothing here. Come on, Rachel, let’s grab Donna and go. It’s past 2, we’ve done enough for one day.”

“I just want to finish this file, OK? And you shouldn’t be in here anyway, we promised the ORO that only omegas would look at the files.”

“How are they going to find out? Do you think I’ll sign them ‘checked by Harvey R. Specter, alpha.’ I need to make sure we’re not missing anything.”

“Harvey, I’m the best paralegal in this firm. I don’t miss things.”

He sighed, looking up into her obviously affronted face. “Whatever you say, just humour me, OK? I need to be doing something.”

“We all do, and right now I’d say that something is sleep.”

Donna had appeared in the doorway, her face a mixture of affection and annoyance – an expression Harvey was very familiar with.

“Seriously, we all need rest otherwise none of us will be any good tomorrow.”

“Just one more file, then I’m ready, I promise!”

Donna was about to argue when she paused, listening. “Is that my phone? Who the hell is calling a law firm at 2am?”

Harvey smirked. “You don’t need to answer it you know, you’re work hours are pretty much over for the day.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been looking for an excuse to let rip at someone. You finish that file, then we’re going home.”

Rachel didn’t respond as Donna headed back towards her desk. She was staring at the file in front of her. 

“Harvey, I think I’ve got something.”

Harvey immediately rose and leaned over her shoulder to see what she was looking at. 

“You’ve found a connection with the assassination attempt?”

“Not that, no. That IT guy who was murdered? He was a volunteer at this shelter in the month before he went missing.”

Harvey frowned. “It’s a link, but not a big one. One volunteer from the ORO being among the victims…”

“On its own it wouldn’t be. But look here.” She handed him another piece of paper. “I thought I recognised the name of one of the frequent visitors to the same shelter. It’s another one of the victims, a homeless woman. I didn’t think anything of it on its own, but two of them being connected…”

“Then maybe the others are. Good catch, Rachel, maybe you are the best paralegal we have here.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “At least we have a starting point for tomorrow. Let’s interrupt whatever torture Donna is inflicting on that caller and call it a night.” 

Rachel grabbed her bag and started to follow Harvey out the door, just as they heard Donna yelling. 

“HARVEY! GET HERE NOW!”

-

“Harvey Specter’s office.”

“Oh. I, um, I was expecting voicemail.”

“Yes, I would imagine, because normal people don’t call at 2am. If I find out Kyle is responsible for another crank call like his random pizza orders I’m having him busted down to the file room.”

“Could I… could I speak to Mr Specter? It’s rather important.”

“It’s 2am, believe it or not Mr Specter is not available. I’m pretty sure that whatever it is can wait for normal office hours…”

“It’s about Michael Ross.”

“… what did you say?”

“You have a colleague, called Michael Ross? I know where he is.”

Donna didn’t even put her hand over the receiver, she just yelled ‘HARVEY! GET HERE NOW!”

“I’m sorry, I have to go. I shouldn’t have called.”

“No, wait, he’s coming, please don’t go. Where is Mike? Is he OK?”

“I can’t… I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. He’s alive. Please don’t give up looking for him.”

“HARVEY! Wait, please. Just tell me where he is.”

“I can’t, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have… Just please. Don’t forget about him. He needs you. I’m trying to look after him, but he needs you.”

“Please wait! Shit!” Harvey reached the desk just as Donna heard the phone cut out to the dial tone. 

-

Alison’s hands were trembling so hard it took her 3 attempts put the phone back on the receiver. She had fucked up, she knew. A real person answering had thrown her completely, and as she heard her flight being called she’d panicked. At least now they knew he was still alive. Grabbing her bag, she headed to the boarding gate, suddenly scared about what she might find on her return to New York.


	23. Chapter 23

_“But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.”_

“I’m pretty sure I warned you about talking to that dog, didn’t I?”

Mike looked up, a huge grin spreading across his face at Alison’s arrival. 

“If I remember right, and you know I do, I pointed out that it’s only if he starts talking back that I have to worry. And so far he’s only asked a few questions about words he doesn’t understand.”

“Funny. You’re a funny guy.”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, so figured I might as well read. And then I thought why not read it out loud to give Reggie some culture.”

She sat down on the bed next to him and handed him one of the cups of coffee she was holding. 

“God, I’ve missed this. Um, and you. Obviously.”

“Sure you have, kid.”

She studied him for a second as he inhaled the aroma from the cup. She couldn’t be sure, but he looked markedly paler than when she last saw him four days ago, though she could see no obvious signs of physical damage. 

“So. How have you been?”

“Ok.” He saw the sceptical look on her face and rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I’ve been Ok. I’m not saying it’s been a holiday camp, but look at me, you can see that I’m alright. It could have been a lot worse. I wanna hear about Florida!”

“Huh, sure you do. You want to hear about my medical conference.”

“Of course! I mean, it’s not like I get much news here, right?”

“Tell you what, I’ll fill you in later. I only really popped in to give you your coffee and make sure you were …”

“Not dead?”

“Something like that.” She smiled at him. “I’m glad you’re doing OK. I was worried.”

Mike bit his lip, nervously. His arm was itching again, and he scratched at it unconsciously. 

“There is something. Before you go, can you look at my ankle? Dr Jackson put this … thing on it, and I can’t work out what it is.”

Frowning, Alison looked down at the device. 

“I have no idea what that is. I’ve not seen one before now on any of the other omegas. He didn’t say what it was?”

“Just that he wanted to monitor something. He didn’t say what though.”

“Is it bothering you?”

“No, no more than the chain did, and at least now I don’t have to think about how far I can move.”

“Alright, well let’s not worry too much about it for now then.”

She stood, picking up the now empty cups. 

“I’ll be back in about an hour to give you your meds, OK? I better go check in with the boss man and tell him I’m back. If you really can’t sleep I can give you something for it.”

“Um, about that. There’s something you need to know.”

She turned back to face him. “That doesn’t sound good. You’d better tell me.” 

Mike twisted his fingers in the bottom of his t-shirt. 

“I’m not allowed any medication at all. Senator Mitchell won’t allow it.”

“Since when was it up to him?”

“Since I belonged to him. He’s coming in a couple of days. To collect me.”

She stared at him in disbelief. 

“No, the whole point of… I mean what the doctor did. He didn’t want you anymore!’

Mike shrugged, his gaze fixed on his hands. 

“I guess he changed his mind. The doc told me yesterday, he said I couldn’t have any drugs as the Senator want’s me ‘clean’. I mean, he said he was gonna try and change his mind, but he didn’t seem that convinced.”

“Alright. Ok. Don’t panic. I’m going to go speak to Dr. Jackson and find out what’s going on. We’ll clear this up. Maybe you misunderstood…”

He finally looked up at this, staring at her incredulously. 

“Well, alright, not misunderstood. But maybe there’s something we can do. I’ll speak to him. After everything he’s done… I mean, after everything. He can’t be thinking of giving you up.”

-

“Harvey, I came down here like you asked, first thing, but I’m not sure what you want me to do.”

“I want you to get off your ass and find my goddamn associate!”

Det. Taylor sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Harvey, look. I get it, I do. But we’re doing all we can.”

“Elliott…”

“Let me finish, please. We’ve traced the number to Florida airport and I’ve called my contacts in the force there. If he’s there, we’ll find him, I promise. But it’s not going to happen instantly. Please, you have to give me a chance to do my job. You know what the situation is like here; I’m giving this my attention because we go way back and because you think he’s your responsibility, but to be brutally frank, this city is full of omegas in deep shit and they are _all_ my responsibility.” 

A delicate cough interrupted both men before the conversation could escalate. 

“Sorry Harvey, Jessica wants to see you as soon as possible.”

“Hey Donna, it’s fine, I was just leaving.” He turned back to Harvey. “Look, I promise, I am doing everything I can. And I have the information that you’ve provided about the shelters as well, and I can assure you that I’ll be looking into that very closely. That’s all I can do.”

Harvey nodded. “I’m sorry Elliott, I know you’re up to your eyeballs in this. It’s just…”

Taylor held out his hand. “I know. We’ll speak soon, Harvey, I promise. Donna, beautiful as always.”

Jessica was waiting in her office with Louis and Katrina. 

“Harvey, Donna. Rachel has filled me in on last night. You say the call came from Florida?”

“Apparently the airport. Which could mean that whoever it is was coming, going, passing through…”

“Well at least it’s a start. And I assume Detective Taylor will be investigating the lead.”

Harvey shrugged. “For what it’s worth.”

Jessica studied him for a second. “And I also assume you’ve contacted Vanessa.”

“Of course. I have more faith in her than the Florida police force.”

“Then let’s talk about what Rachel found in the files.”

“So far, she’s found 4 names of murdered omegas who are somehow related to the ORO’s shelters; three were regulars at two of the shelters, the other one was a volunteer. Rachel’s going through the rest of the files to see if the others turn up, but I won’t be surprised if she finds all of them.”

“So what are we thinking? That whoever is killing the omegas was trawling the homeless shelters for his victims?”

Louis shrugged. “It would make sense. Where better to find people who aren’t going to be missed?”

“That wouldn’t explain why they targeted the volunteer, unless it was a mistake.”

“Nor would it explain why it only seems to be the ORO shelters that were targeted. There are other shelters in the city…”

Harvey huffed in frustration. 

“There’s another, obvious, explanation.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes at him. “Go on…” but it was Katrina who answered. 

“You think that Thomas Miller got the names and supplied them to Senator Mitchell.”

“Think about it, it makes sense. Miller was in the ideal position at the ORO to find vulnerable omegas who wouldn’t be missed. It’s too much of a coincidence for them to be random targets. He finds them, gives the details to Senator Mitchell…”

“Who then, what, Harvey? Goes around the refuges and kidnaps them, without anyone recognising him?”

Harvey rolled his eyes. “I doubt very much he’d be doing the dirty work himself, but in essence, yes!”

Jessica turned to him, her tone not unsympathetic. “Harvey, right now there is nothing but a hunch to link the Senator to these killings. If anything, this would suggest that the biggest suspect is someone within the ORO itself, and you can bet that’s what would be said once it becomes known.”

“You don’t seriously think someone at the ORO is responsible? Maybe Simon, it’s always the quiet ones, right?”

“It’s not about what I think. Right now you could claim omegas killed JFK and started WWII and people would believe it.” She paused. “Besides. If this theory is true, where does Mike fit in? He’s not homeless, and unless we’re working the associates a lot less than I thought he doesn’t have time to volunteer.”

“No, but he went missing after the Senator came here. Maybe he decided it was worth the risk to branch out.”

“Why would he risk everything he’s building politically just to get your associate? He’d be the first victim with a direct connection.”

Harvey winced at her use of the word ‘victim’. “I don’t know, but I _do_ know that he made completely inappropriate comments to me about Mike after he saw him.”

“Such as?”

“He called him decorative…” Saying it now, out loud, it didn’t seem to have the impact he remembered, and he could tell from the expression on Jessica’s face that she thought the same. 

“Decorative. Right. Harvey, listen, I’m not saying to forget the Senator completely, I’m just suggesting you keep an open mind. If you convince yourself Senator Mitchell is responsible you might miss something important.”

“When do I miss things?”

“Would you like me to answer that, or just glare at you?”

“… Buffy? Really?”

“Just go, Harvey. We all need to get back to work. Rachel will tell us as soon as she finds something.”

Dismissed, Harvey and Donna headed back to his office. 

“You’re still convinced it’s him, aren’t you?”

“I was. Right now I’m not sure of anything. Let’s just hope Vanessa comes up with something soon.”

-

Alison had raced to Dr Jackson’s office, but arriving at the door, she stopped and collected herself. Going in with guns blazing wasn’t going to help either her or Mike. Taking a deep breath, she knocked calmly. 

“Come in. Ah, Dr Williams, back from your conference. I hope it was a worthwhile trip? Do sit down.”

“It was, I learnt a lot. I took a lot of notes so I’ll have a great deal to feed back on.”

He gestured at the seat in front of him and handed her a glass of water. 

“Excellent, I shall look forward to it. And I expect you’re curious as to whether anything happened whilst you were away, yes?”

“Actually…”

“I think I’ve known you long enough to get a fairly good grasp of your character. Which is why I can guess that, before coming to see me you have already been in to visit our young patient, and thus are already aware of what has happened.”

Alison blushed, embarrassed at how transparent she was. “Yes, doctor. And I don’t understand! How can you just let him do this? I thought when you… I thought you’d fixed it.”

“As did I. Unfortunately, our friend the Senator has surprised us both, and I have no choice but to capitulate.”

“But you were going to bond with him yourself!”

“And I still may. When he inevitably gets bored of him and moves on to the next, I shall make sure that he brings him back here. As long as he is still capable of being impregnated and carrying to term then all this will mean is a delay of a few weeks in my research. Frustrating, but not the end of the world.”

She gaped at him. “But you know what he does to the omegas he takes home! You can’t possibly…”

“And what would you have me do? Right now, the eyes of the world are on this city and specifically this man. He may be about to become the most powerful man in the world, but even if he doesn’t, he still controls the majority of our funding. How exactly would you stop him from taking the boy?”

Alison shook her head, lost for words. “I just thought… I thought you’d protect him.”

“I confess, I was inclined to, which as I’m sure you know, is an unusual state for me. Science demands rationality and a clear eye, and I was in danger of being distracted from that. But then I made a fortunate discovery.”

Alison tried to keep her tone neutral despite the sudden black worry she was feeling. “Oh?”

“Yes, as you are aware we have been giving him regular blood tests, testing his hormones and such, making sure we are fully aware of any changes.”

“Of course…”

“I have obviously been keeping a close eye, waiting for him to come into heat. And I confess that I have become somewhat impatient at the fact that he seems to be very late.”

“I actually read a paper on that recently, they theorised stress can delay or even stop heats entirely.”

Jackson chuckled. “I have heard that myself, and I suppose it’s conceivable that he might be under _some_ stress. But then I made a discovery. Senator Mitchell likes to take his omegas home in a pure state, with no drugs in their system. So I stopped his medication, and took the precaution of testing his blood for any residual drugs. Do you know what I found?”

Alison felt as if her own blood was congealing and freezing in her veins. Not trusting her voice, she shook her head. 

“That the reason our young friend hasn’t come into heat is that he has been given suppressants. A fact I found baffling, given he has only come into contact with ourselves and the orderlies since he has been here." He levelled his gaze at her. "Perhaps you could shed some light on this?”

She swallowed. “I have an apology to make.”

Steepling his hands in front of him, the doctor fixed her with a look that she couldn’t interpret. 

“Go on.”

“Well… you know how much my research means to me. It’s my life! And I passionately believe that what we are doing here is so important. And I was so excited when you told me you were sending me to that conference!”

She paused to take a long drink of water, noticing as she did so that her hands were shaking. 

“But then I got to thinking. I’ve worked so hard on this project, especially with Mich… with our current patient. And I thought, ‘what if he comes into heat while I’m away?’ I was just so scared that I’d miss the opportunity to witness first-hand the culmination of so much of our research, and… I guess I panicked.”

“You panicked.” He rose from behind his desk and turned to look out the window.

“Yes! I figured, he was late coming into heat anyway, another week wouldn’t hurt would it? So when I gave him his meds the evening before I went away, I also gave him a suppressant. Just a small dose, to last a week!” Alison could feel her panic rising, not helped by the fact that she couldn’t see his face. 

“Of course, if he _had_ come into heat in the last few days, I would have already claimed him, and the Senator would therefore not have the power, nor presumably the will, to remove him.”

“But I didn’t know! You have to believe me! I thought all that had been dealt with by your… by you. If I’d have thought for just a second…”

“But you didn’t, did you?” He turned back to her, his expression still unreadable. “You didn’t think. When you gave him the injection, were there any signs that his heat might be about to start?”

“No! No, of course not! If I had thought… if there had been evidence that that was the case, I would have told you immediately and requested that my trip be cancelled.”

“Hmm.”

He sat back down and considered her. “Doctor Williams, you must understand that I consider this a grave error of judgement. Apart from the possible connotations for our work, I am personally _extremely_ disappointed that you felt it necessary to lie to me. No, please do not interrupt." 

Alison bit back the interjection she was about to make and waited for him to continue.

“However. I am inclined to believe that this is all it was – an error of judgment.”

“Oh my god, thank you!”

He held up his hand, silencing her. 

“An error that can never happen again.”

“Of course, I would never…”

“And it may be that in some way this is a fortunate turn of events. I think we can agree that it would be in no one’s best interests, least of all the boy’s, if he were to come into heat whilst he is with Senator Mitchell.”

Alison, still reeling with shock at her escape, blanched at the thought. “No, that would be disastrous.”

“The Senator has, of course, requested that Michael be free from the effects of any drugs, and will want a blood test to prove that. However, it is my feeling that once the test has been carried out, it would perhaps be for the best if a further injection was given, suppressing his heat for another period. Say, two months, as that seems to be about the limit before our friend gets bored and wishes to move on.”

She nodded fervently. “Yes, absolutely. As soon as we know when he’s being collected I shall arrange it.”

Dr Jackson smiled at her. “Then we are in agreement. The Senator is in fact coming in this afternoon to deal with some preliminary matters so I’m sure we can confirm a time then. In the meantime, we had both better get back to work, yes?”

“Oh, of course. And I want to say again how sorry I am, there won’t be a repeat.” She rose quickly, concealing her astonishment at being dismissed so easily. Her hand was already on the door-handle when Jackson called her name. 

“Oh Dr Willias, one more thing. I presume that the patient knew nothing of this?”

“Of course not. I assume he just thought it was more meds, as you’d already requested the extra supplements.”

“Yes, of course. Well there’s no need to speak of it to him now, is there? Nor to tell him of our other plans. It might effect how he reacts to the Senator and we wouldn't want him to give us away, would we? Besides, there is no need to cause him any undue distress, especially as these suppressants are not 100% reliable.”

“Uh, no, I suppose not.”

“Excellent. In that case I shan’t keep you any longer.”

With this final dismissal seeming to be final, she hurried out and started down the corridor towards Mike’s room, trying to regulate her breathing to calm down before she got there as she knew he would instantly be able to tell something was up. She had just about managed to regain her poise by the time she reached his door, but before she could open it she heard a cry of pain from inside, accompanied by what sounded like a yelp. 

Fumbling for her key-card, she flung the door open, half expecting to find one or both of the orderlies in there, but instead she was met by the sight of Mike sitting up in bed, gasping for breath, a distressed looking puppy clasped against his chest. 

“Jesus, are you OK? I thought someone was in here with you for a second.”

He didn’t respond to begin with, just hugged Reggie tighter as he sat there shaking, so she quickly filled a glass of water and held it up for him to drink. After a minute he had calmed down enough to take it from her and drink from it himself, so she kicked her shoes off and sat down next to him, slipping her arm around his shoulders. 

“Better?”

At his nod, she smiled reassuringly. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

Despite the water, his voice was croaky when he spoke. “I … don’t know. I was trying to do what you said and get some sleep. I guess I must have drifted off cos all I remember is just this… pain. So much pain through me. And Reggie seemed to be hurt too, cos he jumped like a mile high and he seemed so _so_ scared, which isn’t like him!” 

He rubbed at his head as if to try and get the memory of what had happened out. Alison patted his hand sympathetically. 

“You know, sometimes when people dream it can seem so real, even down to feeling pain…”

“No! Trust me, this was real. And it’s not like I could dream Reggie getting hurt!”

Mike clenched his fists in frustration. “He wouldn’t hurt him, would he? He promised he wouldn’t!”

“No, sweetie, I don’t think he would. And he wasn’t here, was he? I’ve just come out of a meeting with him, and you’ve been here by yourself.”

He shook his head. “I know it was real. I just can’t remember how...”

“Try not to worry about it, OK? If I happens again, I’ll run some tests. Maybe there’s been some side-effect to one of the medications that we didn’t know about. Or some symptom of withdrawal that we didn’t expect, as you’ve had them stopped. Want me to check Reg out?”

Almost unconsciously, he pulled the dog closer to him. “No, I think he’s OK. Maybe he just got a fright. I mean, maybe it was me screaming, that would frighten anyone, right?”

Alison smiled, acknowledging his attempt to lighten the mood, and squeezed him, rubbing his arm. As she did so, his t-shirt sleeve rode up, revealing his shoulder and upper arm. She paused, choosing her words carefully when she spoke. 

“Michael sweetie, what happened to your arm?”

He looked up at her in confusion for a second, then realisation seemed to dawn. 

“Oh, that! I was going to ask you to take a look, but with the Senator and everything I forgot. It’s been driving me mad the last few days, really itching. I know I shouldn’t have been scratching it, but it’s the only thing that makes it better! I remember when I had chicken pox as a kid my mom got really pissed at me for scratching all the time. Before you say it, I know Reggie doesn’t have fleas cos I’ve bathed him and I’d have seen them, so don’t go blaming him. Do you think I might be allergic to something? I mean, you can be allergic to detergent and stuff right? Maybe it’s something that the sheets are washed in?”

As he spoke, Alison just stared. There was barely a square centimetre in total of Mike’s upper arm that wasn’t covered in an array of deep, vicious looking scratches. As far as she could tell, they ranged from a few days old to fresh; now she was looking, she could see the blood on his dark t-shirt. 

She realised suddenly that Mike’s monologue had stopped, and he was looking at her curiously. 

“Are you OK? You look really pale suddenly. Would you like some of my water?”

As he held the glass out to her, she was acutely aware of how close she was to bursting into tears, and how inappropriate that would be, so gratefully took the glass, smiling brightly at him after she’d taken a long sip. 

“No, no, just a bit of a head-rush. I guess I’m a bit more jet-lagged than I thought. You weren’t the only one who got no sleep last night you know!”

He laughed, but she could tell he wasn’t entirely buying it, so carried on. 

“Anyway, you’re right. You’re a very bad boy. You know that you shouldn’t scratch itches, right? You’ll leave a scar…”

Mike blushed and looked suitably chastened. “But it feels sooo good…”

“No, Michael!”

He frowned at her, confused at the vehemence of her outburst.

“I mean, it’s a bad habit, OK?” She got up quickly, and unlocked the cupboard, pulling out a roll of bandages and some cream. “Here, let me wrap you up. Then you won’t be able to scratch it, and hopefully whatever you’re … allergic to won’t be able to get to it either. Deal?”

“Sure…”

She could see that he still didn’t understand why she was making a fuss over it, but ignored both his baffled look and the tight feeling in her stomach as she dressed it, making sure it was tight enough that it wouldn’t come off by mistake. 

As soon as she was done, she made her excuses and left the room, albeit promising to return later with a coffee, and fled back to her office. Locking the door behind her, she collapsed onto her chair, finally succumbing to the tears she had been bottling up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than usual I'm afraid as I decided to split the chapter in 2. 
> 
> Bonus points if you know the book that Mike is reading to Reggie at the start ;)


	24. Chapter 24

“Tell me you’ve got something, V.”

“Good afternoon to you too Harvey. You know I only got here this morning, right? I’m good, but I’m not Wonder Woman.”

Harvey pinched the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath and wondered when everyone he knew had become so difficult. 

“Vanessa…”

“Settle down Harvey. I didn’t say I had nothing, I just wanted to remind you that I can’t work miracles.”

“You tell me that now? I feel like I’ve been lied to. What have you got for me?”

“Well, it _may_ just be a big old coincidence, but right now there’s a medical conference going on right here in Florida. Want to guess what the topic is?”

“Not really, that’s what I pay you for, remember?”

“You’re really no fun when you’re in a mood like this, you know. Fine, the conference theme is the biology of omegas and it looks like it covers everything from reproduction to alpha relations to omega neurology. If you’re still thinking that the signs point to the ICAOR, then I’d bet this conference is the place to start.”

“Vanessa, I take it back. You are Wonder Woman.”

“Yeah, well. Tell me that again when I’ve got something more concrete. Right now I’m working on getting a list of delegates, so let’s not get too excited till we can find a link, alright?”

“Deal. Listen V, I gotta go; boss lady is here. Let me know as soon as you’ve got something.”

He hung up and turned to Jessica, who had entered silently and was now sitting across from him. For once, her poker face had slipped and he could tell instantly that something was up, besides the obvious clue that she had come to his office rather than summoning him to hers. 

“What’s happened?”

“I just had a call from Simon Jenkins. He and Elizabeth are in the hospital. They were attacked as they were leaving one of the omega shelters last night.”

“How bad is it?”

“Simon got lucky, he’s just got a broken arm, some cuts and bruises. Elizabeth… she hit her head on the sidewalk pretty badly. Apparently the doctor says they’ll know more when she wakes up.”

“My god. I’m guessing they don’t have whoever did it?”

“You’d guess right. Apparently it’s being treated as an attempted robbery right now.”

“You’re kidding me! Outside a homeless shelter? What did they think they were gonna steal, canned food?”

Jessica sighed. “Harvey, you’re preaching to the choir here. It doesn’t take a genius to see this was a hate crime”. 

“That’s even assuming it was a random attack just because they’re omegas rather than them being targeted. How do we know this wasn’t a deliberate attempt to intimidate the ORO?”

Jessica gave him a long, hard look. “Harvey, I feel like I’m having to repeat myself. Have you taken a look outside? You think this is an unusual event? Do you have ANY idea how many incidents like this are taking place right now? It is _not safe_ to be an omega in this city. I know you’re concerned about Mike, but this isn’t about him anymore. I was down here at 5 this morning because someone had graffitied the front of the building with words that I frankly won’t repeat but which implied that, as a firm, we are primarily interested in omegas in a sexual way.”

She paused and took a deep breath to collect herself. “This is my firm, Harvey. And it’s my city. And it’s going to stop. Now, I’m going to head down to the hospital and see if there’s anything I can do.”

-

Alison had been standing outside Doctor Jackson’s door for nearly five minutes, trying to work up the nerve to knock. She knew she was being ridiculous; how many times had she gone to speak to him in exactly this way? Why now did she feel like a schoolgirl outside the Dean’s office? Gritting her teeth, she knocked as firmly as she could and entered the office. 

“Doctor Williams, do take a seat. What can I do for you? Senator Mitchell isn’t due for another hour or so.”

“No, no, I know. I just wanted to speak to you about a concern I have about our patient.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Well do go on.”

“I understand that you have been keeping your distance from him over the last couple of days, but I wondered if you’d noticed his arm?”

The doctor looked genuinely puzzled. “What about his arm?”

“I think that… that is to say, I’m concerned that he’s begun to self-harm. He’s been scratching his arm badly, it’s kind of a mess right now, all up here,” she gestured at her own upper arm between her shoulder and elbow, “and I’m not entirely sure he’s even aware he’s doing it.”

She paused, considering her words. “To be honest, Doctor Jackson, I’m very concerned about his state of mind.”

Jackson sat back in his chair and drummed his fingers on the desk. 

“He wouldn’t be the first of our patients to be a little, how can I put it, disturbed, by our research. Omegas are after all much frailer both physically and mentally than alphas, aren’t they?”

“Well, yes, I understand that’s the consensus, but…”

“How did you deal with it?”

“Oh, I… I bandaged it up. He didn’t seem interested in discussing it, so I just made it as hard as possible for him to make it worse.”

Jackson smiled brightly at her. “Then that seems to be all sorted, doesn’t it? You did the right thing, of course telling me.”

“Right… It’s just… I think he might subconsciously be trying to dig out the chip.”

“Well we both know he would have no chance of digging deep enough for that. And to be brutally frank, we are both fully aware that once Senator Mitchell has had him in his hands for a day or so, some scratches on his arm and a slight self-destructive tendency are going to be the least of his problems, aren’t they?”

Alison felt her stomach turn as the reality of that cold statement hit. He was right, of course. 

“Anyway, you have done exactly the correct thing in bringing it to my attention. And once he is back in our hands and I have claimed him, such behaviour will stop. I hope this reinforces to you how important it is for omegas to have an alpha to guide them and keep them on a level path. Now, if there was nothing else?”

She stood, shaking her head. “No, that was all. I better go make sure he’s ready for the Senator.”

She was just opening the door to leave when Jackson’s phone rang. 

“Dr Jackson, Senator Mitchell is here to see you. He says he is returning your property for disposal as arranged.”

“Of course, please show him to the waiting room. I shall be there presently.” Hanging up, he turned back to Alison. “Well, it looks like our friend is early. I had better go and greet him, so if you could notify the orderlies I would be grateful.” 

“I’m sorry, notify them of what? I’m not sure I understand what’s going on…”

The doctor waved his hand, dismissively. 

“Just let them know the Senator is here. They know the procedure. I am aware that you have not been party to the events leading up to the Senator’s collecting a new omega before now, but there is no time like the present to learn, is there? Now, I suggest you go down to our patient and make sure he’s ready to greet his new owner appropriately. After all, in a couple of days he shall be leaving with him.”

Calling the orderlies to inform them of the imminent arrival, Alison paused outside Mike’s door and observed him for a minute on the screen. He still hadn’t managed to sleep, but was instead watching Reggie attempting to grab his tail. Clearly amused at the puppy’s ongoing failure, he absent-mindedly scratched at the bandage on his arm. Frowning, she put her key-card into the slot and headed in to make sure he was prepared to greet the Senator. 

-

Rachel tossed the file down onto the table and slumped back into her chair. 

“Well, that’s it. All the murdered omegas were visitors to one of the ORO’s shelters, either as residents or volunteers. So what’s our next move?”

Harvey picked up the pile of paperwork and stood, ignoring the protesting crack his spine made. 

“I take these to the NYPD, along with the names of anyone who might fit the description of the Jane Doe.”

“OK, what do you want me to do?”

Harvey blinked at her. “Nothing, you’ve done amazing work here Rachel but Jessica’s right. We need to attempt to get back to some sense of normality – we’ve been neglecting our other clients while this has all been going on, and I’m sure there’s a queue of associates who need your help.”

“Are you KIDDING ME? Back to normality? Mike is still missing. The omegas of this city are still in danger. In case you didn’t notice, Central Park is still basically a refugee camp, and if you recall our agreement when I came back here, you promised that we’d deal with this!”

“Actually no, the agreement was you’d come back here and look through these files and we’d send associates down to the camp. Now we have our own little legal tent down there, and if I’m not mistaken this is the end of the file situation.”

“So that’s it? Back to normal? But of course, right? You’re an alpha, why should you give a shit. We’re just here for your amusement.” She gestured at the boxes of files surrounding them. “Who cares what happens to these people, you can always find some other pet. I’d just have thought you at least would care about what’s happened to Mike.” 

Harvey slammed the files back down on the table, visibly counting to ten before responding, his jaw set. 

“Rachel, I know you’re close to Mike. And I know that this is hard for you. So I’m going to give you a chance to take back what you just said before we end up somewhere we can’t go back from.”

For a second, it looked like Rachel was going to argue but, to Harvey’s astonishment, she instead burst into tears, burying her head in her hands. 

“I’m sorry, I know you care about Mike, I didn’t mean any of that. It’s all just too much! Every day there’s worse news, between the riots, and the… the camps they’re putting omegas in, and now poor Ms Brandon and Mr Jenkins! And it feels like we’re no nearer finding Mike! What if he’s …”

“He’s not! He’s just… not.” Harvey shifted uncomfortably, not used to having to comfort crying women – at least ones he hadn’t slept with. Hesitantly, he sat down on the couch next to her and handed her his pocket handkerchief. 

“Thank you.” She blew her nose loudly, then grimaced. “And on top of everything, I forgot to take my suppressants yesterday, so now I could come into heat any day. That would be _just_ what I need.”

Seeing the expression on his face, she laughed suddenly. “Oh god, your face. I’m sorry, was that too much information?” She sighed. “I hate using it as an excuse, it just feeds into every shitty stereotype about working omegas there is, but it would explain why I’m extra cranky.”

“I think the current situation is explanation enough,” Harvey said gently. They sat in silence for while as Rachel collected herself. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean your handkerchief for you.”

Harvey smirked. “Dry clean only. Rachel, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Well, given the way I just spoke to you, I probably owe you, so sure.”

He didn’t respond straight away, clearly considering how best to phrase his question. 

“Wow, Harvey Specter lost for words. It must be serious.” 

Laughing, he shook his head. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t want to be offensive. Or be sued for harassment.”

“Ooh, now I’m intrigued. Go on, I promise not to sue you. It would be pretty awkward, given I’m staying at your place right now.”

“I think it’s probably common knowledge that I’ve been… around. I’ve enjoyed my fair share of heats with omegas in half the hotels in this city.”

“More than your fair share if the ladies’ room gossip is to be believed…”

Harvey tilted his head in acknowledgement. “For an alpha, it’s amazing. Omegas in heat smell amazing, they’re irresistible. The sex is great. I just wanted to know… what’s it like from an omega point of view? To be in heat? I mean, not the biology, I know the facts of life…”

“Huh. Well I certainly didn’t expect that question.” She thought for a second. “Well, it’s not like it is in porn, for a start. I know the fantasy is that omegas turn into insatiable sex-crazed animals during their heat, happy to screw whoever can knot them. I mean, there _are_ some omegas out there like that, but they’re like that anyway, the heat just kind of turns it up.”

“Huh. I always wondered what academic credentials the science advisors of those porn films have.”

“Oh shut up, you asked! I’m being serious. You wouldn’t believe how many people think that it’s true. ‘Hey baby, I got what you need! I can knot you good!’ Ugh. Like we suddenly lose all sense of taste?”

“So what’s the reality then?”

“Honestly? The best way I can describe it is it’s like being sick with a fever, like the flu. I mean, it’s called heat for a reason, right? It varies from person to person how severe it is, but I know in my case it always makes me feel nauseous and kind of dazed, like it’s harder to think clearly. The only thing that really helps is sex – that’s why people think that omegas in heat are all desperate and horny. It’s just that it’s like medicine, you know? So if we don’t share our heat with anyone, we don’t die of frustration or anything, it’s just that we don’t get the relief. Does that make sense?”

“You make getting knotted sound like being vaccinated.”

Rachel giggled, clearly a little embarrassed about the whole conversation. “Well, in a way it is. But obviously a lot more fun.” She sobered suddenly. “The important thing is, we don’t suddenly lose our minds. If an alpha or beta forces themselves on an omega during their heat, it’s still rape, despite the fact that the conviction rate is less than 1%. Apparently people find it next to impossible to believe that any omega in heat would say no to sex.” She shook her head. “Trust me, if we wouldn’t screw you the rest of the year, we wouldn’t screw you then either.

“And then there’s the fact that alphas don’t suffer the same way if the bond gets broken! I mean, I know that some bonded couples do break up, but it’s a pretty painful experience, worse than being in heat. I’ve heard that constant migraines are the least of it. Breaking a bond is so hard on an omega, it’s unfair that the alpha doesn’t experience the same pain. I’ve heard of alphas claiming omega after omega for the buzz, just moving on to the next one, not caring what effect it has on the ones they leave behind.”

Harvey said nothing, remembering the pain his father had gone through. He had thought it was all mental, but the idea it might have been causing him actual physical pain as well made it even harder to think about. 

Rachel continued, her lesson on omega heats now turned into a fully-fledged rant on alpha/omega politics. “Did you know that in most states it’s not legally possible to force a bond? The logic is, if you bonded you must have wanted it.”

Harvey winced. “Sometimes the law can be an ass.”  


“I can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like, being bonded to your rapist. You’d be left with the choice of accepting it and living with your abuser, or leaving and having the pain of a severed bond. Either way, it’s the omega who suffers. Like it always has been.” 

-

“I hope you’ve not been scratching.”

“Me or Reggie?”

“Michael…”

“I’m sorry. It just… it feels better when I do. I’ll try not to.” He squinted at her. “You’re back quickly. What’s up?”

“The Senator is here.” Off the sudden panicky look on his face, she hurriedly explained, “No, no, he’s not here to collect you. I’m not actually one hundred percent sure why he _is_ here to tell you the truth. Something to do with dropping off a package.” She paused, trying to find a way to phrase it delicately and failing. “And he wants to _inspect_ you.”

“Inspect me? What, to make sure I’m clean or something? I thought he’d made up his mind either way.”

She shrugged. “Frankly I’m past second guessing. He threw us all by changing his mind about taking you, so I can’t be sure exactly what he wants to do. All I know is that when he’s previously collected someone he’s always come a day or two before to visit the institute and his new omega, but I’ve not been present so can’t say why.”

Mike shuddered, his face pale. “I hope it’s not because he wants a test-drive before he’s given the paperwork.”

Alison opened her mouth to protest at the analogy, but was interrupted by the door opening on Butch. 

“Looks like it’s your lucky day, you get to see outside your room for a change. Hope you don’t do anything to _abuse_ the privilege.” The orderly leered at Mike, putting far too much stress on the word abuse for either Mike’s or Alison’s liking. Frowning, she stood in between him and the bed. 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t informed that Michael would be being taken away. What exactly is going on?”

“Nothing to be concerned about Dr. Williams, Dr. Jackson has just asked us to deliver the omega to Research Room B.” He held up a pair of handcuffs and gestured to Mike. “Up, now. You don’t want to keep the Doc or the Senator waiting.”

“Wait a minute, B is one of the animal research labs. Why would he need to go there?”

“Sorry Dr. Williams, I just follow orders.” With that, he took a step towards Mike, who was now standing nervously by the bed, and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back, before taking hold of his other wrist and locking them together. Before he could pull him out of the room, Alison held up her hand. 

“Wait just one second. I’m sure there’s no problem, but it’s best if I check.” She pulled out her cell quickly and dialled Jackson, who picked up immediately. 

“I had a feeling you might call.”

“I just wanted to check that there hadn’t been a mix-up with the directions given to the orderlies.”

“Of course, I understand that this is out of the ordinary for you and it is perfectly sensible to check. However, I did indeed request that our patient be brought to Room B. We have a certain … procedure that we follow each time, and I am confident in my staffs’ ability to do what is required of them.”

“I see. In that case…”

“You raise a valid point though. Perhaps it is sensible that you should be acquainted with the processes involved; after all, I won’t be around forever. Why don’t you accompany Michael? Then you can see for yourself.”

“Oh! Alright. I’ll come along.”

“Splendid. But we had better not keep the Senator waiting any longer, had we?”

Hanging up, she turned back to Butch, who had been gripping Mike by the arm while waiting; she couldn’t help noticing how unsteady he looked, and was hit by the recollection that not only did he still have painful wounds on the souls of his feet, but he also hadn’t slept in nearly two days. Smiling brightly to hide her consternation, she gestured at the door. 

“Shall we?”

-

“Harvey, you’ve been staring at that file for the past ninety minutes. I know paperwork doesn’t come easy to you, but if you’re struggling that much maybe you should pass it off to an associate. I hear we have a few.”

Harvey glared at Donna, but he had no chance with her at a staring competition. Throwing his hands up in defeat, he shut the file and tossed it on to the desk in front of him. 

“Fine, go and give it to … you know, I don’t even care. Give it to whichever one has pissed you off lately.”

“That would take all day, I’ll just have to choose one at random.”

Harvey didn’t even pretend to be surprised when, instead of leaving with the file, his secretary shut the door behind her and sat down. 

“Spit it out then. I know you’re dying to.”

“I had lunch with Rachel. She told me about what happened earlier.”

“You mean how she insulted her boss, who kindly let it go as he is aware of how much stress everyone is under?”

“I mean how you were grilling her about omega heats.”

“It was hardly grilling! I was just curious.”

“Curious. Right. And how much does that have to do with you spending the afternoon staring into space?”

“Very little!”

“Really?”

“Yes! Jesus, Donna, just drop it. It’s not about that…”

“Aha, so you admit that there is something!”

“Oh for f…” Harvey stopped himself before the expletive passed his lips. “Would you just take the file and go? Everyone is telling me to go and do my job, but none of you are doing yours!”

“Harvey, I’m serious. Talk to me. When has talking to me about what’s on your mind ever been the wrong decision? You know I can help.” 

He shook his head, briefly considering leaving his own office to escape the inquisition. Instead, he got up and poured out two glasses of scotch, handing one to Donna. 

“It’s not about Rachel. Well, kind of, but really it’s about Louis.”

“OK, that I was not expecting.”

He downed his glass and poured another two fingers, ignoring Donna’s pointed look. 

“I’ve been thinking about what he said. That I’ve been so caught up in what I could or should have done, I’ve not been thinking about what’s important right now.”

Donna sipped her scotch expectantly. 

“I think he might be right.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“If you think I’m repeating that, you’re wrong.” He laughed, bitterly. “As if things aren’t bad enough, now I’m agreeing with Louis. But he’s right. I’ve been so caught up in what _I_ failed to do I’ve lost sight of the fact that this is about Mike and the other omegas. I guess talking to Rachel was a bit of a wake-up call. I just hope he isn’t right about the rest of what he said.”

Donna grimaced at the thought. “You mean about the Senator taking out his anger at you on Mike? I guess it just means we have to find him as soon as we can, right?”

“Damn right. I may have missed things before, but that stops now. I’m going to find him, and I’m going to make sure nothing bad can ever happen to him again.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

Downing her drink, Donna grabbed the file and headed off to find her victim. As she shut the office door behind her, she paused briefly, wondering if she should have cautioned Harvey against making promises he had no hope of keeping. 

-

Alison’s confusion at what was happening didn’t get any better when they entered the lab. She had expected to find either Dr. Jackson or the Senator there, or even both of them, but it was empty. Instead, there was a trolley in the middle of the room, fitted with restraints. She turned to Butch, expecting him to order Mike up on to it, but instead he had removed the handcuffs and pushed the omega into a chair, cuffing him to the arm of it instead. 

Looking into his eyes, she could tell that he’d had the same thoughts as she had about the trolley, and was obviously puzzled as to what was about to happen. It struck her suddenly how disturbing it was that he didn’t seem especially frightened; instead she could see only resignation on his face, as if the worst had already been done to him and he was already broken as much as he could be. Ignoring the orderly, she leaned over and squeezed Mike’s hand in reassurance. Before she could say anything, the intercom crackled. 

“Dr. Williams, would you mind just stepping into the room next door?”

Wincing at the suddenly stricken look on Mike’s face, she bent down and quickly kissed his forehead. 

“I’ll be back soon, OK? It’ll be alright.”

She stepped out the lab and into the room next door, where she found Jackson and Senator Mitchell. 

“Ah, Dr Williams. Thank you for joining us. I thought it might be more appropriate for you to remain in here with us. We wouldn’t want to distract the orderlies from their job, would we? Do take a seat.”

Completely at a loss now, Alison sat down next to Jackson. He was holding a remote control which he now pressed, causing the blind opposite them to rise and revealing a two-way mirror giving a full view of the lab. 

“I’m sorry sir, Senator, but I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Senator Mitchell snorted at this, but her boss simply smiled at her. “Oh, don’t worry. Everything is about to become crystal clear.” He gestured at the glass. “Just watch.” 

Alison turned her attention fully to the other room, where she could see Mike still restrained in the chair. After a minute, the door opened and Spike appeared, accompanied by a slim, blond omega she recognised. 

“Oliver!”

“Ah yes, you remember young Oliver.” Jackson turned to the Senator. “You’ve had a pleasant few weeks with him, haven’t you Thomas?”

Mitchell laughed. “Oh yes, we’ve had a lot of fun. But you know how it is. One day the spark just isn't there. Eventually your eyes start to wander. And of course I have my heart set on that pretty creature in there. I can hardly keep two omegas at once, can I?”

Alison’s shock at seeing Oliver again, weeks after he had left with the Senator, turned to horror as she saw how different he now was. She hadn’t become nearly as close with him as she had with Mike, but he had been a sweet young man, upbeat despite the hard life he had previously had. Now she watched as he shuffled into the room obediently, his eyes downcast. He had become painfully thin, and it looked like it hurt him to move as he climbed up onto the trolley.

As soon as he was settled, Spike and Butch moved forward to strap him down, despite a complete absence of any resistance from the omega. Alison saw that Mike was watching, wide-eyed, as if knowing that it was his own near future he was seeing. As Spike finished tightening the restraints, Butch fitted what looked like an oxygen mask onto his face, then turned to the mirror and seemed to look straight at Jackson. 

Next to her, the doctor pressed the intercom button. “When you’re ready. Do make sure our patient is watching attentively.”

Alison turned to Jackson, but the question died in her throat as she saw his expression. She had never seen him look so cold. In the lab, Butch was holding the mask firmly in place; Spike, stood next to him, had produced a large gas canister. As soon as the doctor had given the go-ahead, he turned the valve to open. 

“Oh no… Oh my god no. Please, you can’t…”

She jumped up and ran for the door but found it locked. 

“Sit down, Dr. Williams. I’m surprised at you, becoming so emotional. You have to understand that this is the best thing for all concerned. Senator Mitchell no longer wants him, and what use is an omega with a failed bond? You are a doctor, you are fully aware how they suffer. And what alpha would want him now? This is a kindness. It’s cruel to make them suffer, surely?”

Her face grey, Alison refused to return to her seat, unable to bring herself to look back through the glass. 

“You did this to all of them, didn’t you? You told me they’d been paid off, that they’d been given money to leave. You lied to me…”

“I did. Sometimes lies are necessary, are they not?”

As he said this, he turned away from the scene in front of him to look straight at Alison. In that instant, she realised he knew, had in fact probably known all along, that she had been lying to him. 

“Yes, sometimes lies are necessary. And sometimes we have to make difficult decisions for the greater good.” He gestured towards the glass, behind which the unfortunate omega was now lying completely still. She watched as Mike struggled desperately in the chair, one of the orderlies standing behind him gripping his head, forcing him to see everything. 

“Do you not think its best that your young friend knows now what awaits him if he doesn’t please his alpha sufficiently? Do you not agree that we all would act differently, were we to consider the consequences of our actions?”

There it was. Jackson couldn’t be any plainer. Alison now knew that if she tried to help Mike, if she tried to tell anyone where he was, it would be her turn to die. She swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat and nodded sharply at him. “I understand.”

“Oh I am glad. I do prefer it when we’re all on the same page.” The doctor rose and unlocked the door. “Do feel free to return to your office. I’m sure the orderlies can escort our patient back to his room.”

Needing no further dismissal, Alison fled. 

-

Mike felt like he was outside his body, looking down on himself as he was un-cuffed from the chair and taken back to his room by Butch. He stumbled along behind him, oblivious to the pain in his feet, until he was pushed through the door. He stood there, swaying slightly, ignoring the puppy that had immediately thrown itself against his legs. 

“I wouldn’t bother getting too settled in. I heard he’s coming back in a couple of days to get ya. Guess you better start thinking of how you can make him happy, huh?” Butch moved forward, so he was flush against Mike’s back, and whispered in his ear, “I know you’re kinda cute, but you’re nothing that he hasn’t had before. They all end up the same in the end.” Laughing, he gave Mike a shove towards the bed then left, his cackles ringing out down the corridor. 

The sound of the door shutting behind him snapped Mike out of his trance and he became suddenly desperate. 

“Reggie, come here boy. Come here. That’s it. Good boy.”

He picked up the wriggling beagle and climbed onto the bed, curling up into the foetal position with the warm body pressed against his chest. Despite the number of people close to him who had died, he had never actually seen it happen before. His grandmother had protected him from that with his parents and grandfather, and of course he’d been too late to be with Grammy. 

He shuddered, hugging Reggie closer. It had just been so _quiet_. The omega hadn’t fought. He hadn’t begged. They’d strapped him down, but Mike could tell it wasn’t necessary; he wouldn’t have tried to resist. Of course, Mike couldn’t be sure that he had known he was going to his death – he doubted that either the Senator or Dr. Jackson would have told him. But something in his gut said it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. He had caught a glimpse of the man’s eyes - it was like there was nothing there. 

He had known for a while that being given to the Senator may well mean his death, but he had assumed that it would be by ‘accident’; from what he’d heard of Senator Mitchell’s treatment of his omegas he’d fully expected to one day be beaten to death or suffocated or stabbed or…

He shuddered again. There was no point thinking about that now. He just hadn’t expected it to be so _calculated_. This wasn’t sadism. He just… wasn’t needed any more, like an old dog that no one wanted. They really did consider omegas less than animals. He was jolted from his thoughts by Reggie struggling in his arms and realised he’d been clasping the pup too tight. 

“Sorry Reg.” He released his iron grip and let him settle comfortably against him. He realised he was shivering and pulled the thin sheet up over them both. He was glad that Alison had been called away before it happened; he trusted her now enough to know she had been unaware of what had been going on. Although he didn’t want to lie to her any more, he also couldn’t face the idea of telling her. She would have known this omega, and the others who had presumably met the same fate. He just had to persuade her that, once he was gone and could no longer be protected, she should leave, and get as far away as possible from the lab. He knew there was no hope for him now. All he could wish for was a quick end. 

It felt like he lay there for hours, turning everything over and over in his head. He was half convinced that he would never sleep again; every time he shut his eyes he could see the dull gaze of the other omega looking back at him. Eventually, though, exhaustion took him over and he felt himself begin to drift off. 

Mike didn’t know what woke him first, the blinding pain in his leg or Reggie’s distressed yelp. He jolted upright, gasping and clutching his leg; the pain thankfully was over almost as soon as it started. He scooped Reggie up into his arms and stroked his head, whispering to him gently to soothe him. As soon as the puppy was calm again, he put him down on the pillow beside him and drew his leg up so he could see his ankle properly. 

Underneath the anklet, he could see his skin had reddened, but even if there had been no physical evidence he was pretty sure he knew now what it was for. Jackson must have been laughing at him the whole time, telling him it was just to ‘monitor’ something. Given that the two times it had shocked him had been when he was falling asleep, he figured that what the doctor was monitoring was how he would react to sleep deprivation. 

The realisation suddenly hit him; Jackson knew. He had told him he would be leaving him alone, but had come back with the anklet, saying he’d changed his mind. He must have found out about the suppressants somehow and now he was being punished. He hugged his knees and started shaking uncontrollably, his hand unconsciously scratching distractedly at the bandage wrapped around his upper arm. 

If Jackson knew about Mike having the drugs, he would also know that Alison must have given them to him. If anything happened to her as a result of his begging her to help, they wouldn’t need to gas him - he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

-

“Why are you still up?”

Harvey barely glanced at Donna before turning his attention back to his laptop. “I could ask you the same thing. Nice pjs by the way.”

“I could see the light was still on. It’s distracting. Rachel’s out like a light, by the way. She was so wound up about everything I persuaded her to take some ambien.”

“I’ll make a note that she’ll probably be late in tomorrow then,” Harvey commented drily. 

“I have more. If, you know, you wanted some. We all need sleep Harvey.”

“I’ll bear that in mind, but I’m just finishing anyway.” He shut the laptop and stood, trying to ignore the cracking sound his bones made as he stretched. 

Donna patted his cheek. “That’s better. We both know how much you need your beauty sleep.”

Harvey was prevented from voicing the particularly witty and cutting retort by his cell buzzing with a message. Clicking it open, he frowned, then turned it to show Donna. 

_**Lola Jenkins** 01:17am  
Harvey, I’ve had a breakthrough with Senator Creepy’s cell. Can you make me time tomorrow am? I’m sure your uber-secretary can squeeze me in. Think I know what got him so mad, but should tell you in person. Better warn you – it’s not good._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter was a nightmare, and to be honest I'm still not 100% happy with it, so may edit it more, but if I didn't post it tonight I was going to go crazy. Hopefully this has answered the questions from the previous chapter anyway, but yell if something doesn't make sense - it's half 1 here and words no longer have any meaning :p
> 
> Oh, and while I'm here, I caved and got a Tumblr. Feel free to yell at me about how cruel I am to poor Mike [here](http://avery-q.tumblr.com/).


	25. Chapter 25

“What have you got for me, V?”

“Good morning, sunshine, isn’t it a bit early for you to be working?”

“I’m waiting for Lola. She’s apparently had some kind of breakthrough. The question is, what have _you_ got for me? Going to be beaten by an amateur?”

“Harvey, I’ve never been beaten in my life. However…”

Harvey sighed. Of course there was a problem. “’However’ what, Vanessa? Come on, don’t give me bad news.”

“I won’t, but right now I don’t have good either. With everything going on, it’s proving a little more difficult than normal to get names and places. People are twitchy about anything to do with omegas right now, especially a whole conference around them. Don’t worry, though, I’m working on it. Did Lola say what she has?”

“No, just that she wanted to speak to me in person.”

“Well let me know, OK? And while you’re waiting for her, you might want to turn on the TV. Our Senator Mitchell has been making the rounds, trying to drum up support for his campaign. He should be on any minute now, and rumour has it he might be making an announcement. Anyway, gotta go. I’ll call you as soon as I have anything.”

Harvey clicked off his phone and switched on the TV that was now installed in the corner of his office. Sure enough, he was immediately confronted with Senator Mitchell, being interviewed by someone who looked like they were 99% wig and 1% lipstick. 

“So Senator Mitchell – “

“Please, call me Tom.”

The interviewer gave a high-pitched giggle. “Tom, then. Thank you so much for coming in to the Studio to speak with us today. I know what a busy man you are!”

“Oh, it’s my pleasure, Dolly – may I call you Dolly?” More giggles. “My heart aches for how much this city is suffering right now. There has been so much turmoil, and I heard only this morning that two of my dear friends in the Omega Rights Organisation were injured in a completely unprovoked attack last night.” He turned to look straight into the camera. “Simon, Elizabeth – if you’re watching I sincerely wish you a speedy recovery. Unfortunately it only goes to prove how necessary the current curfew is. If there had been an alpha with them, this attack might have been prevented.”

“You’re so right Tom. And may I just say how humbling it is to see how concerned you are for omega welfare.”

“Well Dolly, I’m only one man, but I do believe it’s our duty to keep them safe, no matter what the investigation into terrorist cells may find. I am quite convinced that it is only a minority of omegas involved and it would be quite wrong to blame them all for the actions of a few. Sadly, as we’ve seen, until the perpetrators are brought to justice, all omegas are at risk from vigilantism. That’s why this afternoon the Chief of Police will be announcing further measures to protect the city’s omegas from attack.”

“That is a huge comfort to us all, Senator. Is there anything you can tell us right now about these measures?”

“Well, I don’t want to be seen as jumping the gun, but it is common knowledge that a great deal of effort has gone in to finding safe accommodation for those omegas who have nowhere else to go. I’m confident that with this afternoon’s announcement, we will see a sudden and drastic decrease in both anti-omega crime and the awful, awful riots we’ve been witnessing.”

“What’s going on?”

Harvey jumped with a start, having not realised Donna had entered. He swallowed. 

“More bullshit.”

“So, Senator, I know you have to rush off, but before you go, I wonder if you have a response to the criticism that, as an unbonded alpha, you don’t have the necessary experience with dealing with omegas.”

“Well Dolly, as you know I do prefer to keep my private life private. I don’t think any of your viewers would be surprised to find out that, even though it’s true that I’ve never been bonded, I have had my fair share of experience with omegas!”

The flirtatious giggling was beginning to get on Harvey’s already frayed nerves.

“Well, Tom, you’re a handsome man!”

“Well thank you, Dolly, that’s very kind of you, but I think we all know that, when a man reaches a certain age, he starts thinking about settling down. Now, I can’t really say anything right now, what with everything else going on it wouldn’t be appropriate, but let’s just say there might be an announcement of a more personal kind coming soon.”

“Exciting news! You heard it here first, folks. Thank you, Senator Thomas Mitchell, I hope you’ll come back soon with that personal revelation! Now, let’s find out what the weather’s like in your area…”

Harvey clicked off the TV and threw the remote down with more force than was necessary. 

“Well, that was cryptic. What do you think the personal announcement could be? He made it sound like he’s going to be getting bonded…”

Harvey grimaced at the thought. “Yes, he did. And I have a very bad feeling about this.”

-

Opening the door, Alison thought to begin with that Mike was asleep in his usual position, curled up with Reggie tucked against his chest. As she neared the bed, she realised her mistake; he was whispering awake and whispering to the puppy, seemingly insensible of her entrance. 

_”SOME, too fragile for winter winds,_  
The thoughtful grave encloses,—  
Tenderly tucking them in from frost  
Before their feet are cold.”   


“Michael….”

He fell silent, bleary eyes turned to her, and she nearly gasped. The bright gaze she was used to was grey and dull, red-rimmed with exhaustion and grief. 

“Oh sweetie.” She sat down in front of him and ran her hand gently through his hair. “You haven’t been able to sleep, have you?” To her surprise, he barked out a brief, humourless laugh at this. 

“Sleep… no, I haven’t slept. I’m not allowed to sleep.”

“Not allowed…?”

He nudged her side with his foot. “I found out what this is for. You were right, he does have my best interests at heart. Guess he knew that I’d probably have nightmares about yesterday so he figured the best thing for me was to stop me sleeping.” His gaze slid away and settled, unfocused, on the wall opposite. Alison stared down at the anklet; as she saw the reddened skin underneath it she realised what it was doing. 

“Oh my god. Michael, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, I promise…”

His voice was barely a whisper. “Did you know about everything else? Did you know about… about him?”

“No. No, I didn’t. Please, you must believe that I would never have… I would never. And I won’t let it happen to you. I promise.”

“What was his name?”

“What?”

“His name. Because I’m going to be seeing his face every time I close my eyes.” He turned back to her briefly, before looking away again, as if it caused him pain to see her face. “I can’t forget, can I? Even with a normal memory I don’t think I’d be able to forget.”

Alison swallowed, struggling to keep what little composure she had. “Oliver. His name was Oliver. Senator Mitchell picked him up from here a few weeks ago. He’d only been here a few days, so I didn’t really get to know him, but he seemed… he seemed like a nice kid.”

She reached over and took his unresisting hand in hers. “When I heard that the Senator was looking for a new omega, I thought… well, Dr. Jackson had always lead me to believe that he just got bored of them and paid them off. Sent them out to an omega rehab facility to get over the bond and gave them enough money to start again. To keep them out of the papers because of his career.” It was her turn to laugh now. “God, what a moron! How can I have been so naïve to believe that bullshit?”

“That will be me in a few weeks, won’t it?”

“No! No, it won’t. I won’t let that happen. I promise you…”

“You can’t stop it. You know you can’t.”

“Good morning Dr. Williams, Michael. Blindfold on please.” The intercom crackled as Jackson’s voice came through. The limp hand she was holding suddenly tightened its grip almost painfully, but she shook her head, and whispered, “It’s OK. It will be OK.”

Alison took the blindfold and fixed it in place, rising from the bed to stand next to him, close enough to feel him tremble. As soon as she was done, the door opened. 

“I thought I’d find you in here. I do hope our patient hasn’t been giving you a difficult time, hmm?”

“Of course not. I was just about to give him his check-up.”

“Oh yes, I’m aware that it’s that time. He might also appreciate some of that coffee you’ve been giving him; he does look a little tired. Perhaps you could go and get that now?”

She stood there for a second, unsure of what to do, but realised that arguing couldn’t lead to anything good. 

“Of course. I’ll be right back.” She squeezed Mike’s hand again, then headed quickly out the door, determined to be absent for as short a time as possible.

Mike heard the click of the door, and was then surprised by the doctor’s thumb, pushed into his mouth.

“I’m sure you’ll be grateful for that coffee. And of course it must be time for another dose of your suppressant, yes?”

Mike had the sudden sensation of falling, as if everything beneath him had just dropped away. He had been right in his deductions; Jackson knew. The thumb was removed from his mouth. 

“Please… please….” He barely recognised his own voice, dry and croaky, his throat painful. 

“Please what, hmm? What possible right do you have to ask me _anything_ ”

“Don’t hurt her. I begged her, please, it wasn’t her fault. You can’t…”

Jackson put his hand over Mike’s mouth, cutting him off. 

“I think you’ll find I can do anything I want. However, in this instance, I’m sure you’ll be relieved to hear that I do not intend to punish Dr Williams. She obviously underestimated just how manipulative you are. She is an excellent doctor, and clearly an intelligent woman, but we all have our blind spots, don’t we? I have no doubt that she won’t make the same mistake again. If it were to happen a second time, I would find it difficult to be quite so forgiving.”

Mike shivered, understanding completely the implied threat. At that moment, Alison practically fell through the door, out of breath and clutching a thermos of coffee. 

“And here she is, right on cue. I shall leave you both to it; I’m afraid I have much to do in preparation for the Senator. Do enjoy your coffee – have you considered trying caffeine-free? You’re looking a little peaky.”

-

“Donna!!”

“Jesus, you really don’t need to yell. And no, I still haven’t been able to reach Lola.”

“Just let me know as soon as you do.”

Biting back the response she wanted to give, Donna rose from behind her desk and entered Harvey’s office, shutting the door behind her. 

“I know what you’re going to say. Don’t.”

“Harvey, you need to calm down. Apart from anything else, I’m worried about your blood pressure. I mean, you’re not as young as you used to be…”

“Just what I want to hear.”

Harvey rolled his shoulders and sighed. “I know, you’re right. Getting angry doesn’t help anyone. But Lola said she’d be here first thing, and it’s 2 O’clock already. Where the hell is she?”

“I don’t know, Harvey. But Lola’s not stupid, I’m sure she’s alright.”

“Mike isn’t stupid either.”

Donna was saved from responding to that by Rachel sticking her head around the door. 

“Sorry to interrupt guys, but Jessica wants you in the library. Apparently they’re about to make the statement.”

There was already a small crowd gathered around the TV in the law library. Harvey was hit by a strong sense of déjà vu; it felt like years since they’d been here watching the disastrous assassination attempt, yet it had only been a week. The mood had changed from then dramatically. Instead of the noisy chatter, there were only whispered murmurs; the few omegas in the room looked particularly nervous. Donna instinctively put her arm in Rachel’s to calm her as the city spokesman took to the press conference podium. Jessica didn’t even need to speak this time; the room fell silent on its own. 

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for coming once again. I know there have a lot of questions asked as to what we are doing about the current situation, especially as the levels of violence have been rising over the last couple of days. I have here a prepared statement, outlining the emergency measures which have been decided on and which will be put into action immediately. 

“As a temporary measure, in order to insure the protection of all residents of this city, all omegas will be required to register at their local precinct, along with their responsible alpha. Any omega who cannot provide details of such an alpha will have 24 hours to report to their nearest Assembly and Relocation Centre, details of which will be provided. Such facilities will enable the city to take care of unsupervised omegas and ensure their safety. 

“We have every confidence that registration will be ready to begin at 9.00am Monday morning. In the meantime, the curfew will remain in effect, with unaccompanied omegas being required to remain indoors after 6.00pm. Finally, Central Park, an area of which is currently being occupied by a militant group of omegas, has been temporarily designated an exclusion zone where omegas are not permitted to enter. To that end, we will be ordering the dismantling of the camp immediately. Any person or persons who resists this order will be considered a threat and will therefore be arrested. 

“Further details of the emergency measures will be released imminently. In the meantime, on behalf of the city of New York, I would like to thank all law-abiding omegas for their cooperation, and to stress that these measures are only temporary while the current investigation is ongoing. Thank you.”

The audience in the library was silent, the only noise the rapid clicks of the cameras and the unanswered calls of the assembled press shouting questions. 

After several seconds, Jessica clicked off the TV and turned to the shocked lawyers. “Louis, I want you to get me those further details as soon as they’re released. As of now, it is everyone’s priority to find as many loopholes as possible in whatever they’ve drafted. And I don’t want to hear that there aren’t any. Find some. 

“I also want full confirmation of exactly what they class as a ‘responsible’ alpha. Does it have to be a parent or bond-mate, or will any alpha of high standing be allowed? There will be no question of any omega in this firm being made to attend one of these ‘Relocation Centres’.”

“Relocation Centre my ass. They’re talking about internment camps for God’s sake!”

“Not now, Louis.”

“I mean it, who do they’re kidding with this bullshit? Do they think we’re all idiots?”

“I said _enough!_ ”

Jessica turned to Rachel, who looked as if she was about to vomit. “Come with me to my office, Rachel. I’ll make us some tea. Donna, can you please make sure that all omegas on the premises are aware of what’s happening and are given any assistance possible.” She paused for a second. “If they feel it necessary to leave the state while this is happening, the firm will handle any costs involved, and their jobs will be kept open for them when they can return.”

She looked around the room, knowing that her own face mirrored the shock she could see on each of theirs. 

“I’ve told you what I want done. _Now_ people.”

-

It was late afternoon by the time Alison had plucked up enough courage to return to Doctor Jackson’s office, but it still took her another five minutes of standing outside his door before she could bring herself to knock. 

“Come in.”

With a deep breath and the most respectful face she could muster, she entered and sat down opposite him. After several beats, he put down his pen and looked up at her. 

“Doctor Williams, what can I do for you?”

“I would like you to help me understand what your intentions are.”

“Regarding?”

She huffed, exasperated at his deliberate obtuseness. 

“Michael. One minute you’re intending to bond with him, to have him bear your children. The next, you’re willingly handing him over to the Senator, knowing full well what will happen to him while he is there. I don’t understand how you can be happy for others to hurt _your_ omega.” She paused, trying to gauge how this was being taken, but with no clue in his expression she decided to plough on. 

“I have always, _always_ had the greatest respect for you as a doctor and as a scientist. Even when I disagreed with your methods I knew that what you were doing was for the greater good. And I understand that we may have no choice but to hand him over to Senator Mitchell, however much I wish that wasn’t the case. But I cannot understand your reasoning behind depriving him of sleep for such an extended period. He hadn’t slept in three days! And with the psychological trauma of seeing what happened to his precursor I don’t know what … I mean, he’s already self-harming.”

She took a deep breath, fully expecting him to interrupt, but when he remained silent she continued. 

“It is my considered scientific opinion that continuing in such a manner could be, no, _will_ be extremely detrimental to both his physical and mental health. Michael has shown himself to be incredibly strong willed and brave throughout his time here, but there is a limit and I believe he is reaching it. I know that in a couple of days he will be with the Senator, and there will be nothing we can do for him, but I am begging you, while he remains here _please_ give him some respite.”

Jackson regarded her appraisingly, drumming his fingers on the table. 

“Dr Williams, I would like to commend you for your bravery in coming in here and saying all of that to me. Especially given our conversation yesterday.”

“You made it very clear to me that you will not tolerate anyone lying to you. I am merely trying to be completely honest with you.”

“Quite so. And you can believe me when I say that I do appreciate such frankness, as I have always made clear. In return, I shall do my best to be as frank as possible in return. 

“You ask how I can allow others to hurt my omega. The mistake you are making is in believing that there is already a bond between us. It is quite possible that if he had been allowed to come into heat and be claimed by me then I would have done all in my power to prevent him being taken by Senator Mitchell. However, we both know that did not happen. As it stands, therefore, my soul interest in him lies in his ability to breed and pass on that amazing mind of his. Obviously our research has been curtailed by current circumstances, so we are still unclear of whether it is a genetic condition or merely a freak chance that will not be replicated. Either way, this will have to wait until he has been returned by the Senator when he inevitably gets bored of his new toy. 

“As far as what Senator Mitchell may or may not do to _his_ omega while he is in his possession, I am afraid that is none of my concern. We have had a discussion about this, and about my intentions toward the omega and he has assured me that he will not do anything that will affect the boy’s ability to breed. Beyond that, frankly, I care neither one way nor the other.”

Alison opened her mouth to interrupt but he put his hand up. 

“However.” He stood, turning towards the window and gazing out at the street below. “You are right in what you have said regarding my latest… experiment. There is no scientific basis behind it. It is very rare that I admit to being wrong, but in this case… “

He turned back to her, leaning against the window sill. “I was angry. Despite your insistence that he was unaware of you giving him suppressants, he is not a fool, and neither am I. It was clear to me that he not only was aware of it, but that he almost certainly asked for it in the first place. No, don’t try to deny it. I understand your desire to protect your patient, but in this case it would do no good. 

“I am not a man who appreciates being lied to. I believe I have made this abundantly clear. And I particularly do not appreciate being lied to by an omega who is under my care. I was deeply disappointed by his actions, and in turn it is possible that I behaved rashly in deciding to punish him in the way that I did.” He smiled at her, humourlessly. “You should remember this moment, Doctor. I do not admit to many mistakes.

Reaching into his desk, he produced a small key and handed it to her. “Here. You may release him. Whatever my intentions were, I am quite sure he has suffered enough for his indiscretions.”

Alison sat there in shock, staring at the key in her hand. Whatever outcome she had envisaged from this meeting, it hadn’t been this. 

“I… thank you. Thank you for this. I know he will be grateful.”

Jackson nodded curtly, then sat back down at his desk and resumed the work he had been doing before her entrance. She stood to go, but paused, briefly wondering when she had developed a death wish. 

“In the interests of continued honesty, may I make one small observation?”

He looked up at her, apparently irritated at her continued presence. “I can hardly refuse now, can I?” 

“You said that, as you haven’t claimed him, you don’t have any bond with Michael, so you have no interest in what does or does not happen to him. But I think if that were true you wouldn’t have been so angry that he deceived you. You have always been a deeply rational man, it’s one of the things I’ve most admired about you. To act so illogically, so _rashly_ , it must have hurt you personally. I think there’s more of a bond there than you realise.”

And with that, Alison’s self-preservation instincts finally kicked in and she exited the office quickly, without giving her clearly surprised superior a chance to respond. 

-

“Harvey, come on, it’s late. Let’s go home. Rachel left hours ago.”

“She still might come.”

Donna shook her head. “I hope she doesn’t. It’s way past curfew, and with the way things are today it really wouldn’t be safe for her. Honestly, if I were her I’d be half way to Canada by now.”

“Just as well you’re not me then, isn’t it?”

It was a testament to Harvey’s self-control that the relief that passed across his face on seeing Lola was so brief before turning to annoyance. “Where the hell have you been? First thing, you said.”

“Hey, don’t blame me. Like your boss here said” she gestured to Donna, who tried – and failed – not to look smug, “today was not a day to be a lone omega on the streets. If my dad had his way I’d be making like Rapunzel in a tower right now and not letting my hair down, if you know what I mean. You’re lucky I’m here at all. If it were for anyone else I wouldn’t be.”

“Okay, so now you’re here, what have you got for us?”

Lola sat down on the couch. “You got anything to drink? I could really use something a bit stronger than the diet pepsis I’ve been drinking all day.”

Harvey grabbed three glasses and poured two fingers in each, passing one to each woman. 

“Thanks. Good stuff – I knew you’d be a connoisseur.”

“Lola…”

“Ok. See, here’s the thing. I’ve been able to hack into the memory on the sim card, as that wasn’t bust. I don’t have access to his voicemail, as I need to get into his actual account for that, but I have found some saved images.”

“Will you be able to get into his voicemail? And images of what? And from whom?”

“Eventually, yeah. It’s just a matter of time. But I’m pretty sure I know the picture that caused him to lose it anyway.”

Harvey frowned at her. “Well, show me then.”

“I honestly don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“What the hell Lola? Why not? You think you’ve made a breakthrough but you won’t show me the picture? How does that help anything?” Harvey was pacing now, agitated. 

“Harvey, give her a chance to explain. Lola, what do you mean? Why don’t you want us to see?”

Lola downed the rest of her scotch and held out the glass to Harvey. Shaking his head in frustration, he refilled it for her, then folded his arms and glared at her pointedly. 

“Alright, this is the deal. And I want to make it absolutely clear that there’s nothing to say for definite that it’s Mike.”

“That what’s Mike? Lola, come on!”

She reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper, but didn’t unfold it, just sat there, clutching it in front of her. 

“At around the time that Katrina said he had his meltdown, he received a picture message from an unknown sender. I managed to track it down, but it just comes out as a disposable cell, there’s no way of tracing it.”

Donna could see that her boss was getting increasingly worked up, so she put her hand on Lola’s arm and said gently, “What was the picture of, Lola?”

“It’s of a young man. It’s been taken so you can’t see his face, but from body type I’d say it’s definitely an omega. He’s… he’s in a bad way. There’s a lot of blood, blood _everywhere_. From the picture it makes it clear… I mean it’s obvious that… god.” She wiped her eyes and took a large gulp of her drink. “You can tell he’s been … assaulted.”

Donna’s voice was barely a whisper. “Oh my god.”

“Show me.”

Lola shook her head vehemently. “Harvey, you can’t see his face. There’s no way to tell if it’s Mike or not. Even if there were any distinguishing characteristics to see, there’s just so much _blood_.”

“Lola, give it to me. I need to see it.”

“You don’t! I wish I hadn’t, because now I can never unsee it!”

“SHOW ME THE DAMN PICTURE LOLA.”

She shook her head again, but had no defence against the furious alpha in front of her, so handed him the folded paper. 

Harvey stared at it in his hands for several seconds, willing them to stop shaking before he unfolded the picture. The women watched as he determined to show no emotion, his clenched jaw the only sign of his reaction to what he was seeing. Lola finally broke the silence. 

“You can’t say for sure that it’s him.” 

Harvey just nodded. He was afraid that if he spoke he’d lose it completely. 

“I brought it to you first, but we need to take it to the cops.”

Nod. 

Donna stood, concerned. “Come on, let’s go home. Lola, come back with us tonight, please. I know you are more than capable of looking after yourself, but I’d be much happier knowing you’re with us.”

Lola’s eyes flicked between Donna and Harvey, who still stood there, staring at the picture in his hand, and nodded. 

“Good, that’s settled. We can call Elliott first thing with this, there’s no point doing anything tonight.” She grabbed her bag, before turning back and seeing that Harvey hadn’t moved. She approached him and put her hand on his shoulder gently, taking care not to look in the direction of the photograph; she had absolutely no intention of seeing it and giving herself nightmares. 

“Harvey, come on. Put it away, please.” 

Finally roused from his thoughts, Harvey folded the paper and put it in his pocket, but before the group could leave his cell rang. Glancing at it with the intention of rejecting the call, he saw Elliott’s name come up. 

“Elliott, I was going to call you in the morning. We’ve found out some information…”

“Harvey, I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need you to come down the station. We’ve found another omega, and I’m afraid he matches the description you gave us. I’m gonna need you to come and ID the body.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh, I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted. I have literally no excuse except a massive lack of sleep and no self-discipline. 
> 
> As an apology, let me link [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWqm9FNHYtE) again. Puppies make everything better, right?
> 
> (sorry again! And, erm, sorry for the cliffhanger. Again.)
> 
> [Avery](http://avery-q.tumblr.com/).


	26. Chapter 26

Rachel yawned widely and padded towards the kitchen, still in her nightwear, hoping to find an entire vat of freshly made coffee waiting for her, preferably with a few pastries. Sadly, the reality was a choice between hour-old Colombian roast, or fresh and instant with a bowl of cereal. Getting the first mug of caffeine into her woke her up enough to register the sounds of the TV coming from the other side of the condo, so, grabbing another mug just in case, she headed in that direction. 

“Donna… are you watching _cartoons_?”

“Of course, it’s Saturday morning. What else would I be doing?”

Handing her the second mug of coffee, Rachel stared at her, unsure for once if her friend was joking or not. Eventually Donna took pity on her confusion. 

“No, I am not generally a cartoon watcher. But I can’t deal with more bullshit from yesterday’s press conferences, and right now this is the only alternative.”

Joining her on the sofa, Rachel nodded her enthusiastic assent. “Makes sense to me. I certainly have no interest in hearing one more time about how I’m a danger to myself and everyone around me. I practically passed out as soon as I got home last night. I was so out of it I didn’t even hear you come in. Did Lola show in the end?”

“She did, but it was pretty late.”

Rachel stared at her friend. “So…”

“Hmm?”

“So what did she say? What was the breakthrough?”

“Oh, it’s still kind of up in the air.” Donna crossed her legs under her. “She has some leads but she’s having trouble hacking into the voicemail. She’s gone this morning to speak to a friend of hers who might have some ideas.”

“Right…” Rachel turned back to the TV. She had known Donna a long time and knew when she was hiding something, especially when it was this obvious, but decided that she wouldn’t get anywhere by forcing the issue. 

They sat there in silence for several minutes, Donna carefully keeping her face neutral and hoping against hope that Rachel wouldn’t ask the obvious question.

“So, where’s Harvey this morning?”

So much for that. “The gym. He left before sensible people would even be awake.” The lie came smoothly.

“Working off some aggression? I can sympathise with that.”

“Who’s working off aggression? Cos that sounds like a fucking GREAT idea! I could go with punching something.”

Both women jumped to their feet and turned to face a Harvey who was not only more dishevelled that Rachel had ever seen him, but looked distinctly like he’d never been hevelled in the first place. Donna was unsurprisingly the first to get over her shock. 

“Well there’s no point in asking where you’ve been all night or why you didn’t reply to any of my messages. You stink, Harvey.”

Without taking her eyes off Harvey, Rachel whispered, sotto voice, to Donna. “I thought you said he was at the gym? It looks like all he was exercising was his arm.”

“Yeah, I lied. Come on bossman, let’s get you in the shower.”

“Aw Donna. You know I love you, just not like that!”

Rolling her eyes, she tried to push him towards the bathroom whilst simultaneously making gestures at Rachel to come and help her start to strip his suit off. “I’m not joining you Harvey, I’m just making sure you don’t pass out and drown yourself in 2 inches of water.”

“Hah, drown myself. Maybe I should drown myself. Would get it out of my head.”

Donna carried on untying his tie, but said softly “get what out Harvey?”

Backing away from them, he collapsed on the sofa and buried his head in his hands. Rachel opened her mouth but Donna quickly held her hand up. 

“Harvey, I know it wasn’t Mike. I know that you’d have told me immediately if it was.”

Finally looking up at her, his eyes bloodshot and red-rimmed, he shook his head. 

“They don’t know who he is…. Was… But he looked…. Donna, he was so young. And he looked so much like Mike. I really thought for half a second… I thought it was.”

“Oh Harvey.” Donna sat down next to him and put her arm round his back. 

“And then I was so fucking happy for a minute. It wasn’t Mike, he could still be alive! But this kid wasn’t. I didn’t care that there was a dead kid there, just that he wasn’t _our_ dead kid. What the hell does that make me, Donna?”

“Human. I know you try and pretend otherwise, but you’re human like the rest of us. Of course you were relieved it wasn’t Mike. Any of us would be.”

“I see him. Every time I close my eyes, I can see him lying there in the morgue. But it’s not just some kid. It’s Mike.” 

Donna shut her eyes for a second, trying not to imagine the horror Harvey was seeing. When she opened them, she had moved into ‘assistant’ mode. 

“Rachel, could you please get the bottle of Ambien you have?”

“Of course, but I don’t…”

“I promise I’ll explain everything as soon as Harvey is sorted.” Turning to her boss, she put her hand on his arm. “Come on, let’s get you in the shower. Then you’re taking an Ambien and getting some actual sleep.”

He shook his head violently. “No, no, I need to speak to Vanessa, need to talk to Lola more…”

“Right now the only thing you _need_ to do is get cleaned up and get rested, because you’re no good to anyone like this. I’ll take your cell, if Vanessa calls I’ll speak to her. Now come on.”

Despite his almost paralytic state, Harvey still recognised Donna’s tone as one that would accept no arguments, so he hauled himself to his feet and headed towards the bathroom; as he stood up, he suddenly realised that he’d better get there sooner than later, and lurched at speed, hand over mouth, thankfully making it to the sink before the contents of his stomach reappeared. 

With a sigh which would have been recognised by 95% of executive assistants the world over, Donna grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and followed her boss, ready to clean up his mess like usual. 

-

“Hey honey. You feeling better after a night’s sleep?”

Mike groaned and pulled the thin sheet up tighter over himself and Reggie.

“Is it morning already? It can’t be…”

“I guess you’ve got a bit of catching up to do after the last few days, but we still need to do your tests I’m afraid.”

She opened the flask she was holding and waved it near his face, grinning when it had the desired effect of him reaching out to try to grab it. 

“Uh uh, let me take your blood first, then coffee. Come on, sit up.”

Yawning, he hauled himself upright, rolling his eyes as the dislodged puppy merely rolled over and went back to sleep. 

“Seriously, Reg, laziest dog in the world.”

He held his arm out and watched as she filled several vials with his blood. When she finished, she poured out two cups of coffee and sat down on the bed opposite him, watching as he sipped it, the silence becoming more and more uncomfortable. Eventually, she cracked. 

“So, apart from wanting to sleep for the next week, how are you feeling?”

Mike looked at her incredulously. “Um, pretty much how you’d expect me to feel, having seen my predecessor murdered in front of me and knowing that will probably be me in a few weeks. Oh, but not before I’ve been tortured the whole time.”

Alison flushed, and looked away. “I’m sorry, that was stupid of me. I just… I don’t know what to say to you right now.”

Mike exhaled slowly, then shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. I know it’s not your fault and you’re trying to help.”

She jumped off the bed and slammed her cup down on the table with a crash, making Reggie wake up and yelp in surprise before burying his head under Mike’s arm. 

“Goddammit, will you stop doing that?”

Mike flinched, and stared at her in shock. “Stop what?”

“Being so… so damn nice about this. You’re right, you’re about to be handed over to a man who, at the very least, is going to torture you and may even kill you. You have a _right_ to be angry! You know tonight he’s coming to check you over? Make sure you’re in the right ‘condition’? You don’t have to pretend it doesn’t affect you!”

He opened his mouth, then shut it again, not knowing what to say. After several long seconds, he finally spoke. 

“If you want to know the truth, I don’t know if I have the capacity to be angry right now, cos honestly? My whole… everything is so taken up with being absolutely _terrified_ of what’s about to happen that there’s just no room left to be angry. But if I was angry, it wouldn’t be with you. With Dr. Jackson, with Senator Mitchell, with the whole of this fucking society that doesn’t give two shits about what happens to omegas… But not with you. I wouldn’t have coped these last couple of weeks if you hadn’t been here. I know you feel guilty, and I can’t stop you, but I don’t blame you for any of this.”

He paused again, looking up into her stunned face. “I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything. Anything at all.”

“As soon as I’m gone, you have to get out of here. Leave. Go anywhere, I’m sure any research facility would love to have you. But please don’t stay here. It’s not safe for you.”

When Alison answered, tears were already falling down her cheeks. “I promise.”

She sat down next to him and, to his surprise, drew him into a tight hug, which, after a second or two, he returned. 

-

“I wish you’d have told me this morning.”

Donna sighed, and tucked her legs up beneath her on the couch. She couldn’t really blame Rachel for being pissed off. 

“I know, I know. And if I’d realised how Harvey would be when he returned I would have. But I didn’t see the point in both of us getting stressed waiting for him to get back from the morgue.”

“And he’s absolutely sure it wasn’t Mike?”

“Come on, Rach. Of course he is.”

“I know, I know. I just… the thought of some kid on a slab like that. What if it had been?”

“But it wasn’t.”

“But what if it was?”

“Rachel, this isn’t helping! It wasn’t Mike. As far as we know he’s still alive. We have no reason to think otherwise.”

“As far as we know,” Rachel echoed. 

Donna’s expression softened as she saw how upset her friend was. She put her arm around her back. “Honey, I know it’s hard. But we have to believe he’s OK, that we’re going to get him back.”

“But what about that picture Lola had? Did you see it?”

“No. No I didn’t, and I don’t want to. And neither should you, it wouldn’t do you any good.”

“But…” Rachel was cut off by the sound of Harvey’s cell ringing. Donna glanced at it, prepared to decline the call, but then saw that it was Vanessa. 

“Vanessa, hey. Give me just a moment and I’ll get Harvey for you.”

“Where is he? I thought he’d need an operation to have his phone surgically removed from his hands.”

“He got a little over-emotional last night, so he’s been sleeping it off.”

“Ouch. Well, hopefully I’ve got some good news for him.”

“Lord knows we need it right now. HARVEY!”

A few seconds later, a crash alerted the women to Harvey’s presence, having practically fallen through the door. Despite his shower and rest he still looked more than a little the worse for wear. 

“Smooth.”

“Did you have to be so loud?”

“Vanessa’s on the line.”

Harvey seemed to recover almost immediately, straightening up and holding his hand out. Before giving him the phone, Donna pointedly clicked it to speaker so she and Rachel could hear.

“V, what have you got for me?”

“Before I tell you, I want you to promise me that no matter what, you’re not going to storm off and rush in and go all vigilante.”

“I’m not promising a damn thing till you tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m serious. I’m filling you in on this because you’re both my client and my friend, but I want you to take the information to the cops, not try and deal it with yourself. Donna, you’re my backup here, make sure he doesn’t do anything dumb.”

Donna glanced at Harvey before responding. “I will do my best, but we both know that if Harvey wants to be dumb there’s nothing any of us can do about it.”

“I guess that will have to do. Alright, so I told you that it’s not been easy to speak to anyone down here. So I did some digging and after speaking to more asshole alphas than you’d see at a Harvard reunion, I was given the name of a professor whose lecturers have been more than a little unpopular due to their sympathy towards omegas.”

“We’re not looking for people who are sympathetic to omegas, Vanessa. We’re looking for dicks who mistreat them.”

“Do I tell you how to do your job? No. So let me finish. This professor’s name is Dr Mary Hendrix. Her research is centred around the theory that omegas have as much intellectual potential as alphas and betas. Essentially, she’s a modern day suffragette trying to fight for equality through science.”

“Sounds like a good woman to know.”

“Donna, you have no idea. She is basically my idol now. Anyway, I finally managed to persuade her that I wasn’t one of the wing-nuts sending her death-threats for being a ‘filthy omega-terrorist sympathiser’ and she agreed to meet me in private. Turns out I’m not the first person from New York who’s asked for a private meeting this week.”

Harvey had been getting frustrated at what he saw was a lack of point with what Vanessa was saying, but here he suddenly became alert. 

“Who did she meet?”

“A doctor from the ICAOR. She wouldn’t give me her name, as she had gotten the impression that their discussion was very much off the record and it might not be appreciated if anyone find out. “

“That shouldn’t be too hard to find out if she’s from ICAOR. Assuming she was telling the truth that she’s a doctor they don’t have a high number of staff.” Off Harvey’s incredulous look, Rachel continued. “What? I’ve done my research in to them you know?” 

“Who is that?”

“Sorry V, you’ve not met Rachel Zane, our best paralegal. And she’s an omega.”

“Nice to meet you Miss Zane, I hope you’re coping alright with all this bullshit.”

Harvey coughed, pointedly. 

“Anyway, Miss Zane is 100% right. After the meeting with Dr Hendrix I narrowed the possible moles down to exactly one, Dr Alison Williams. Officially, she is currently researching the scientific nature of the bonds that occur between alphas and omegas from a scientific point of view.”

“You mean, what causes it, and what happens when it’s broken?”

“Exactly. The department she works in was denied funding for a piece of research last year to find out the truth of whether it’s ever possible to force a true bond.”

Harvey looked confused. Gesturing at Rachel, he said “Given what you’ve told me before, isn’t it a good thing to pin this down once and for all?”

It was Vanessa who answered though. “Sure, if the research was being done ethically. The issue was they weren’t talking about case studies. Their plan was to force a bond in laboratory conditions and see how it develops.”

Silence greeted this revelation as each listener tried to get their head around it. It was Rachel who spoke first. 

“They were going to _rape_ someone? For science? And not just rape, but to make them live like a normal bonded couple?”

“As far as I can tell, that was the plan.”

“Oh my god.” Rachel rose from where she had been sitting on the couch and headed to Harvey’s scotch cupboard. 

“Bring the whole bottle Rach. I have a feeling we’ll be needing it. Alright Vanessa. So we know who she is and where she works. What did she speak to Hendrix about?”

“This was tricky, as it comes under doctor patient confidentiality. I knew this might be an issue, so I told her our side, that we were looking for an omega who had been abducted. She seemed sympathetic, but said there was nothing she could do, and that with all the shit going down any normal omegas would probably decide it’s safer to get away. I was getting pretty annoyed at this point, so I kind of snapped at her, told her that Mike is NOT a normal omega, that he’s amazing and he wouldn’t just disappear like this without telling anyone. 

“Except, when I told her about his abilities it seemed to regain her interest. She asked me more about Mike and I told her about his photographic memory and about how it’s not just that, he can understand everything as well. Her face literally at this point lost all its colour; I had to get her some water. It turns out that Dr Williams had come to her looking for advice about one of her patients, who was, I quote ‘… brilliant. Not just for an omega, for anyone. He can remember everything he’s ever read. Everything. And it’s not just a memory trick, he understands it, he uses analytical thinking.’ Sound like anyone we know?”

Harvey jumped up, agitated. “So he is there! I fucking knew it.”

“Hendrix said he’d just been referred to as ‘the patient’, there was no sign that he was there against his will, but when I told her she agreed that there was no way this was two different people. Apparently his abilities haven’t been seen in _anyone_ before, let alone an omega. I didn’t realise your associate was unique…”

“Right now I couldn’t give a shit if there was one of him on every block.”

He grabbed his coat from where he’d flung it earlier that morning and started heading towards the door. 

“Vanessa, hold on a sec. Harvey, where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to the ICAOR and I’m getting him back.”

“No! This is exactly what I made you promise not to do. You have to go Elliott and let the cops do their thing. If their people are as dangerous as we think, then all you’ll be doing is putting Mike in more danger, not to mention yourselves. If they remove him from there we’ve lost our only lead and he could disappear. Talk to Elliott. I’m sending all my files to you now, make sure he gets them ASAP. But do NOT go to that place yourself. Donna?”

“I agree completely. Harvey, you are not to go ICAOR alone…” Donna looked Harvey straight in the eye as she said this. 

“You’re right. Thanks Vanessa, this information is amazing. You ready to head back now?”

“I’m on the next flight. I’ve also promised to let Dr Hendrix know what happens. She wants to speak to Mike when all this is over.”

“Great I’ll see you then. Oh, one more thing. I was given some information from Lola Jenson. I’ll send it over to your cell. It should give you an idea of how things have been going here. “

“Harvey…”

Harvey clicked the cell off before she could finish the sentence, then met Donna’s gaze, Rachel watching the two of them in silence and realising suddenly that they had already agreed their next move. 

“Shall I call Ray?”

“No, there’s no time. We’ll drive. We have somewhere we need to be.” 

Rachel was horrified. “Wait, you’re going there? What about what Vanessa said? It could be dangerous to you _and_ Mike.”

They paused at the door. Harvey took a deep breath and turned back to Rachel. “I know. And I’ll be as careful as I can. But I let this happen to him, and I can’t sit back, knowing where he is, and let him suffer any longer when I could do something about it.” 

Donna gave Rachel a hug. “I promise, we’ll be careful. And I’ll call as soon as we have any news, OK?”

Watching as they left, Rachel tried to ignore the feeling that they were doing exactly the wrong thing. 

-

“You need to promise me something in return.”

Mike untangled himself from Alison’s embrace and leaned back, looking at her questioningly. 

“This – “ she gestured at his bandaged arm, “this needs to stop. They already hurt you enough. Please don’t do their job for them.”

He flushed, and looked away. “It just… it makes me feel better. It was itching so badly, and the only relief I could get was scratching it. I didn’t realise it had got that bad. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

Alison gently cupped his face and turned it towards her. “Sweetie, I know, but you get that you need to stop, right?”

“Yeah, I do. I will.”

She sighed, and moved around so she was next to him, putting her arm around him as he lent his head on her shoulder. 

“God, this whole thing is such a mess.”

Mike laughed. “You could definitely say that. I’ve certainly had better months than this!”

“No kidding! It’s got to be at least in the bottom five, right?”

They sat there in comfortable silence for several minutes, before Mike finally asked a question he’d been dwelling on for some time. 

“You think Senator Mitchell will allow me to take Reggie with me?”

“Wow. I have no idea. I can ask him for you?”

“Thank you. Tell him he’s a therapy dog or something.”

“I’m not sure he’ll buy that, but I can try. Given the hours he seems to work you’ll be alone during the day mostly I think, so maybe he’ll go for it. If he doesn’t, I’ll take Reggie with me. I won’t let anything happen to him, I promise.”

Mike let out a sigh of relief and stroked the oblivious sleeping puppy. “Thank you. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him.”

She squeezed his hand. “I know. I just wish I could protect you as well.”

-

“Take a left here.”

“Yes, Harvey, I can read the sat-nav as well. You know how I hate back seat driving.”

“I’m not in the back seat!”

“So help me, I will turn this car around…”

“I’m just trying to help… Oh hi, I’d like to speak to Detective Taylor please. Harvey Specter. Yes I’ll hold. Goddammit, it’s harder to get through to Elliott than it would be to call the White House. Why the hell he isn’t answering his cell phone god only knows…”

“Maybe he’s seen it’s you calling.”

“Funny. I doubt… Hey Elliott, yeah, it’s Harvey. Did you get the information I sent over? Uh huh. Yes. No, she’s sure.”

Her focus on the road, Donna tried to listen to the conversation but Harvey’s side was not the most informative. She made a mental note to make sure his phone was always set to speaker when an important call was happening. 

“That long? No, I know it doesn’t happen instantly. Yes, I know that too. Who’s the judge? Good, that will smooth things. Well I guess it will have to be. No, of course I won’t do anything stupid, you know me. I am not crossing my fingers! Listen Elliott, I gotta go. Keep me informed, OK? Anything at all.”

Hanging up, he thumped the dash in frustration. 

“I guess that didn’t go too great. What did he say?”

“He’s convinced, they’re going to get a warrant to search the ICAOR premises.”

Donna frowned. “Well, that’s good, right? What’s the problem?”

“Tomorrow at the earliest. Like it’s not urgent.”

“For god’s sake Harvey, you of all people know it doesn’t happen instantly. Elliott is doing his best you know?”

He huffed in frustration. “I know. It’s just…”

Donna put her hand on his and squeezed it in understanding. “We’re here. Now what?”

Silence descended on the car, as they both stared at the nondescript building in front of them. Eventually, Donna laughed. “So, shall I just walk in and say ‘Hey, we hear you’re kidnapping and murdering omegas. Mind if I look around?” She shook her head. “We really didn’t think it through, did we?”

Harvey drummed his nails against the window. “Well, I’m damned if I’m leaving without even going in. Come on.”

The reception area was bright and airy, decorated minimally with only the most tasteful art. It reminded Harvey of the more exclusive kind of plastic surgery clinic, rather than a research facility. Behind the desk, a young beta with a painted on smile was watching them approach. 

“Good afternoon, welcome to the International Centre for Alpha/Omega Research. How may I help you?”  
“I’d like to speak to Dr. Williams please.”

“I’m sorry Sir, only administrative staff are available at weekends. If you’d like to make an appointment for during the week I’m sure Dr Williams would be happy to speak to you, Mr…”

“Specter. Harvey Specter. And no, don’t worry about it. If you could just tell her I called to see her?” 

“Of course. Have a nice day now!”

Donna winced at the force with which Harvey slammed the door getting back in to the car. 

“Well, what did we expect would happen? That she’d come down and give everything up to us?”

“Fuck. Vanessa was right, we shouldn’t have come.”

“One more day, Harvey. Tomorrow Elliott’s team will go in and we’ll get him back.”

Harvey didn’t answer. As Donna turned the car around to head back to the condo, he wondered if he’d just made a huge mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this is really really late, and it's short, and it doesn't have half what it's supposed to have, but I figured that cos you guys have been so awesome I had to get an update out there even if it's only a small one. I'd promise that this means the next one will be soon, but I think we all know by now how bad I am at keeping those promises ;).


	27. Chapter 27

Mike wasn’t sure how long they had been sitting there when the intercom buzzed, startling them both and waking up Reggie. 

_“Dr Williams, please report to Dr Jackson’s office.”_

Mike swallowed. “I guess the Senator’s here, huh.”

Alison reluctantly disentangled her arm from around him and stood up. 

“I guess so. But he’s not here to take you away, not yet.”

“Just to see if he wants to, huh? Try before you buy?”

She winced. “I don’t know exactly what he has in mind for tonight, but I need you to remember this –whatever happens, you’re stronger than he thinks. Than either of them think. Don’t let him break you.”

Biting his lip, Mike nodded, secretly wishing he could be as sure of this as she was. 

“You better shut that little one in the bathroom. I’ll speak to the Senator if I get a chance.”

“Thank you for looking out for him. And me.”

She smiled at him and nodded, then left quickly, knowing it was best not to keep either man waiting. 

-

Rachel looked up from the file she had been trying, and failing, to read as Harvey and Donna returned to the condo. Harvey headed straight to his room, slamming the door behind him as Donna made for the kitchen, suddenly filled with a strong need for something a little harder than coffee. 

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”

Donna shook her head as she grabbed two shot glasses and a bottle of Grey Goose from the freezer. 

“Didn’t get past reception. We really should have seen that coming.”

Pouring two shots, Donna didn’t even wait for her friend to pick the other one up before downing hers in one gulp. As she refilled it, she felt a steadying hand on her arm. 

“Donna…”

“What if we’ve made things worse? Vanessa warned us, Elliott might as well have….”

“I know you guys. You had to at least try. Besides, how much worse can things get?” Rachel gestured towards the TV which, though muted, was tuned to a news channel. “They’ve been showing all the main routes out of New York. It’s gridlock out there cos of all the sensible omegas getting the hell out of dodge.”

Donna looked over at her. “Then why aren’t you? Rachel, you’re my best friend and I love you, but why the hell are you still here? I know your dad must have properties everywhere. Anywhere must be better than this.”

“You think I can just up and leave without knowing where Mike is? Or if he’s even…. No. It’s not an option. But, since you’ve brought it up, I am going to go and stay with my dad.”

“You are? What’s changed?”

Rachel shrugged. “Tomorrow’s Sunday. Monday morning all of us ‘enemies of the state’ have to register. As much as Harvey has said he’s willing to be responsible for me, _I’m_ not willing to make him. If it was you who were the alpha then maybe… “

“He meant what he said. He won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know that. But however much I’d like to pretend otherwise, I already have an alpha responsible for me.” She snorted. “Besides, while I’m there maybe I can get some insider scoop on some of his cases.”

Donna handed her the other glass and refilled her own for the third time. 

“I’ll drink to that. Come on, let’s see how much of Harvey’s liquor cabinet we can get through while he’s sulking.”

-

As Alison walked down the corridor towards Jackson’s office, she passed the two orderlies heading to Mike’s room. Ignoring the knowing leer one of them gave her, she hurried on, trying not to think about what they were going to do there. 

“Come in. Ah, Dr Williams, thank you for joining us.” Jackson and Senator Mitchell were both holding glasses of whiskey, the Senator watching her with barely concealed amusement. 

“Dr Jackson was just telling me how you’ve grown fond of your research subject. Isn’t that a little unscientific of you?” He chuckled and turned to Jackson. “Honestly, these betas can get as emotional as omegas sometimes!”

“Well Thomas, that’s why we’re here, to make sure they’re kept in line, isn’t that right?”

“Damn right!”

Alison was surprised to realise just how much she had the strong urge to slap the stupid grin off Senator Mitchell’s face. Instead, she put on her most professional demeanour and smiled at him before turning to Doctor Jackson. 

“I’m sorry, you wanted to see me?”

“I just wanted to make sure that everything was set for our guest here to inspect his new property. All drugs out of his system, as we promised?” 

“Oh, yes. He’s not had any medication for several days…”

“Good, we’ll take a blood sample shortly then. That will suit you, Thomas?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, yes.” The Senator downed the rest of his drink, holding the glass out to Jackson for a refill. 

“After all, it will save time when you come to collect him, won’t it?”

“Hah, yes. The quicker I can get my hands on that pretty piece of flesh the better.”

Alison swallowed the bile in her throat and tried to focus on what Jackson was telling her; with the blood test done tonight, she could re-inject Mike with the suppressants in the morning, making sure he wouldn’t come into heat during his stay with the Senator. Right now, that was a small but badly needed mercy. 

“Um, Senator Mitchell, I actually wanted to ask you something. A favour, sort of.”

“Yes? We’ll you’re lucky, you’ve caught me in a pretty magnanimous mood right now! What can I do for you, Doctor?”

Glancing at Jackson, who was considering her with an amused curiosity, she took a deep breath and carried on. 

“I’m not sure if you noticed on your earlier visits but Michael – the patient, I mean – has been taking care of one of the lab’s beagle puppies. Dr Jackson here kindly gave him permission to look after it, and he was wondering… I said I would ask if he could bring the dog with him when you take him home.”

For what seemed an age, the Senator didn’t respond. When he did, it was an with an eruption of laughter. 

“That is adorable! My new little pet has a pet of his own! Oh, that’s so cute. I’m almost tempted to agree.”

“Then he can keep him?” 

“I don’t think so, no. As pretty a picture as it would make, I can’t possibly be responsible for a dog as well as an omega. And I’m afraid that I just can’t guarantee that he’d be able to take care of him by himself.”

“He’s been very responsible so far…”

“Oh I’m sure he has. But as I understand it, pets need a lot of attention. If I decide to keep the boy tied up while I’m out all day, or locked in his cage for example, or even if he’s just a little bit too worn out from the previous night’s fun, who’ll look after the dog then? No, I think it’s better for everyone if he leaves it here. I’m sure you’ll take good care of it for him, won’t you?”

Her heart sinking, Alison nodded. Ignoring the way he’d spoken of locking Mike in ‘his cage’, she smiled at both men, made her excuses and left the office, wondering how she was going to break the news to him. As she reached her own door, she heard them enter the corridor behind her and start towards Mike’s room; feeling suddenly sick, she almost ran inside, shutting the door hard behind her. 

-

Mike flexed his wrists, trying to get some feeling into them. He had barely managed to get Reggie settled into a pile of towels in the bottom of the bath, acting as a makeshift dog-bed, before Butch and Spike had showed up. Now he was restrained firmly on the bed, t-shirt removed, his hands bound near his head and the hated blindfold fitted over his eyes. 

He heard the click of the door opening and tensed, the arrival of the men accompanied by the strong odour of alcohol, making him wonder briefly whether that was a good or bad thing; booze always made people more unpredictable, but maybe if they were busy drinking the Senator would only be here for a short while. Before he could consider this further, the Senator burst out laughing. 

“Well, look at you, all ready for me. I know I can always rely on the doc here. Only the best, huh?”

Dr Jackson walked over to Mike and ran his hand through his hair before settling it over his throat. 

“Good evening Michael. As I’m sure you’ve been informed, Senator Mitchell is here to do a thorough inspection of you before he takes full ownership. I am confident that he will find nothing which … _displeases_ him, but I do suggest that you try to be as obedient as possible. Do you understand?”

Mike swallowed beneath his grip, attempting to get some saliva into his dry mouth. “Yes.”

The hand tightened instantly. “Yes what?”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Jackson loosened his grip slightly. “That’s better. Now, before we start we just need a little of your blood.”

He filled a vial with Mike’s, currently drug-free, blood, which he then slipped into his lab-coat pocket. 

“There, all done. Now, do feel free to inspect him in any way you please, Thomas.”

Senator Mitchell smirked, and laid his hands on Mike’s feet, studying the cuts on his soles, and noting the slight burn marks on his ankle. 

“I see you’ve been making sure he can’t move too quickly!”

“There was a small issue of disobedience to begin with, but I think he has learnt his lesson. If not… well, as you say, he will have trouble moving anywhere very quickly for a while. I would suggest you consider reminding him of his lesson, as it were. At least to begin with.”

Mitchell ran his nail roughly across the arch of Mike’s foot, catching at the cuts that had yet to heal and making Mike wince. “Not a bad idea. In fact, I have just the thing in mind.”

Before Mike could dwell too long on what exactly the Senator was thinking of, he felt the hands move higher up his legs, alternately stroking and pinching his thighs. For the next few, interminable, minutes, he listened as the two men discussed his body in great detail, noting any flaws (‘he’s a little pale for my taste, he practically has freckles!’) and praising him when he met their expectations. Senator Mitchell was particularly happy at how thin he was, slotting his fingers between his ribs. 

“What’s this?”

He gestured at the bandage on Mike’s arm. 

“Ah yes, I should probably warn you about that.” 

Jackson took a knife and cut the cloth away, revealing several rows of cuts of varying deepness.

“Apparently the boy was a trifle upset whilst Dr Williams was away last week. You know these omegas, of course, so highly strung.”

Mitchell laughed. “You can say that again! But they generally aren’t broken till I bring ‘em back to you, not before I even get ‘em! I hope you’re not giving me a defective toy, wouldn’t want him to lose his mind before I’ve even got him home! They’re no fun when that happens.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m confident that this one is still fully operational, as it were.” 

He rapped his knuckles on the side of Mike’s head, hard enough to make his head spin. “Still functioning in there, aren’t we?”

Mitchell laughed again. “Glad to hear it. You can’t break ‘em if they’re already broke, right?”

His hands moved back down Mike’s body, pinching his nipples hard on the way. When he reached his hips, he slipped his hand inside the boxers Mike was still wearing. 

“I think we should get these off, shouldn’t we? I’d like to make sure he’s not been wrecked already, especially from what your, hah, _orderlies_ did to him. Nobody wants an omega who’s been such a slut he can’t even feel when he’s being fucked, right?”

“Of course. However, I think you’ll be more than satisfied.”

Jackson pulled down the thin cotton, removing them completely and dropping them on the floor beside him. Slipping his arm beneath Mike’s knees, he lifted them up, pulling his legs back towards his head so that his backside was presented towards the Senator. Mike could feel his face burning with humiliation at the position. 

“Now, there’s a sight to warm the heart!” 

He grasped his buttocks roughly in his hands, kneading them for a second. “Got a nice firm ass, doesn’t he?” He slapped it hard. “Yeah, nice and hard. Let’s see if you’re tight where it matters, huh?”

He spread Mike’s cheeks and pressed his index finger against his hole, rubbing it firmly. Without even pausing to spit on it, he forced it in suddenly, pushing past the second knuckle and causing Mike to shudder beneath Jackson’s firm grip. 

“Yeah, that’s good and tight alright. Not too much damage done, then?”

“It looked worse than it was. And of course he’s had more than a week to recover, with the best medical attention naturally.”

“Yes, naturally…”

He withdrew his finger and stood back, considering the omega as Jackson released his legs. 

“I guess you haven’t relaxed your rules about sampling the merchandise?”

Jackson shook his head, amused. “You know better than that, Senator. We can’t have you taking a test drive and crashing, can we?”

“Interesting metaphor there.”

Mitchell pushed his thumb into Mike’s mouth and sighed, regretfully. 

“I understand your position, Jackson. But you can see he’s driving me crazy here. Can’t you find a little wiggle room? Just for me?”

“Well…”

Jackson watched as Mitchell moved his thumb in and out of Mike’s mouth. 

“How about a compromise? I won’t fuck the boy, but I could still have a little fun…”

“Very well, Senator, as it’s you. I assume you’ll want his blindfold off?”

“It’s only fair he sees what he’s going to be getting. Besides, I do like those pretty eyes of his.”

“I shall have to take your word for that. I shall go and process the blood test then. I’ll return in around 30 minutes – I’m sure that’s more than sufficient for your purpose.”

“Hah, you underestimate me, doctor. When I’m in the mood, I can go for hours! But in this instance I promise I’ll be done before you’re back.”

Mike heard the door click shut, signalling Jackson’s exit, and the next moment the blindfold was off and he was blinking up at the Senator’s red, lust-fuelled face. 

“That’s more like it. Let’s take a look at those pretty blue eyes of yours.”

Mike instinctively tried to turn away, but even in his inebriated state, the Senator was too strong, and forced him to return his gaze. 

“I get the impression that our good friend Dr Jackson has been coddling you a little. Well, that’s OK, he knows I don’t appreciate damaged goods and I guess he was worried I wouldn’t want you anymore since I won’t be your first. ‘Orderlies’, hah! It’s kinda cute how he thinks I’d believe him about who it was that fucked you, like it’s not obvious he got in there first.”

He stroked Mike’s cheek with his thumb. 

“I admit, I nearly gave up on you for a while there. Unlucky for you that I was given some extra _motivation_ to take you home.”

He snorted, amused. “Like I’d miss out on a chance to piss off that fucking lawyer. Damn omega lover. He’s a goddamn traitor to alphas.” 

Mike felt as if his heart stopped for a moment. He knew that Mitchell must be talking about Harvey; no other alpha had the ability to aggravate people quite as much. What had he done to piss Mitchell off? Was he OK, or was he in as much trouble as Mike? The Senator smirked at him; his shock must have shown on his face. 

“Oh, you’re paying attention now, huh? Well that son of a bitch missed his chance, didn’t he? I bet it’ll kill him to know what a broken whore you’ve become. Maybe I’ll send him an invite to one of my parties, show him what he could’ve had. I know I’d enjoy seeing the look on his face, watching you getting fucked in both holes, knowing it’s his fault.”

Even as Mike’s brain was whirling at this, wondering both what Harvey had done and, even more, how the Senator could think he had wanted Mike for himself, he was frozen by the sound of the Mitchell’s zipper being pulled down. 

“Oh, don’t panic. I know I’m not allowed to fuck you tonight. Doc’s orders, right? Probably has some kind of insurance shit going on. Or maybe he just doesn’t want me getting sick of you before I’ve even got you home!”

He climbed up onto the bed, not without some difficulty, and straddled Mike’s chest. Gripping his head by his hair, he pulled him up so he was looking straight into his groin; what Mike saw made him start to panic. 

“No, no please, I can’t.”

“Hah, not seen one like this before, huh? I guess Doctor Jackson isn’t quite the super-alpha he thinks he is. It’s about time you get used to a proper alpha cock. Just be grateful it’s going down your throat before it goes up your ass.”

Despite still being semi-flaccid, the member bobbing in front of Mike’s face was by far the largest he had ever seen, even in the awful porn films he’d sat through in college. The thought of it being inserted in any part of him at all filled him with terror, and he tried desperately to fight against the bonds keeping him tied to the bed. Mitchell seemed to find his panic funny, allowing him to struggle until he collapsed back, exhausted. 

“Come on, you better get used to it. I know I’m big, but if you can’t take me, how will you be able to suck two alphas off at the same time? You’re gonna enjoy my entertainment nights. A cute little omega I had last year still has the record for 3 alphas at once, but I figure you might be able to top that. I reckon by the time I’m done, you could try for 2 in each hole.” He hooted with laughter. “Maybe I’ll send that cunt lawyer a tape for his private collection.”

Grabbing his head again, he pushed the head of his cock against Mike’s lips, trying to force it in. Mike kept his mouth closed for as long as he could, but the Senator quickly grew frustrated and, letting go of his head, he instead pinched his nose hard. 

“Come on, whore, open up for me. You know it’ll taste good.”

Mike fought as long as he could, but eventually had to gasp for air. As soon as his mouth was open, the Senator forced the head of his cock into it. 

“That’s it now, you can take it. And if I so much as feel a tooth, I’ll smash them right out of your skull, you hear me?”

Grunting, he carried on pushing, forcing it further in. 

“Good boy. Fuck, you look amazing like this. You omega whores were built for this, weren’t you? I can’t wait to show you off. They’re all gonna to want a go.”

Despite having forced himself in, Mitchell hadn’t let go of Mike’s nose and he was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Terrified, he tried to open his mouth as far as possible to get some air in, but the alpha just pushed himself further in. As his panic increased, the lack of air was making him dizzy and lightheaded and his eyes were watering. The Senator had stopped speaking to him and was now concentrating on thrusting as far into his throat as he could, the engorged head hitting the back of Mike’s palate and making him gag. His last coherent thoughts before blacking out were to wonder if this is how he was destined to die, on his back with an alpha’s cock in his mouth. 

-

By the time Harvey finally came out of his room, Rachel had long gone to bed, and Donna was ready to following her, standing in the kitchen and drinking as much water as she could bear. 

“Expecting a hangover tomorrow? Will I have to completely restock my liquor cabinet?”

She rolled her eyes at him. 

“I don’t get hangovers because I’m not a dumbass, unlike some people.”

She waved the bottle of water at him.

“You could learn a thing or two from me. Actually, you could learn hundreds of things from me, but you knew that already.”

Slipping past him, she paused at the door of the guest bedroom. 

“Try not to be up too late beating yourself up, OK? And if you get drunk, learn from me and drink lots of water because I’m not having a repeat of this morning.”

Shaking his head, Harvey waved his hand at her and headed to the coffee machine rather than the alcohol. As usual, he knew Donna was right; he still wasn’t sure if he’d made things worse by going to the ICAOR that afternoon, but getting drunk and dwelling on it wasn’t going to help. He’d call Elliott in the morning and confess to what he’d done; maybe it would encourage him to speed things up a bit. 

Staring at his cell phone, he wondered if it was maybe not too late to call him now. After all, the sooner he spoke to the Detective, maybe the sooner things could get moving. As he picked it up, he nearly dropped it again in surprise as it started ringing. Looking at the caller id, he was half expecting to see Elliott’s name show, as if he’d known Harvey was going to call. Instead, the display showed an unknown number. Frowning, he accepted the call. 

“Harvey Specter. And it’s late, so I hope it’s important.”

“Mr Specter? Um, it’s Trevor. Mike’s friend.”

Harvey felt like a bowling ball had been thrown into his stomach. He hadn’t even thought about Trevor during the whole disaster. He knew that he’d fallen out badly with Mike, but he also knew that they had a long history.

“Mr Specter? Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. What can I do for you Trevor?”

“I’ve been watching all the shit going on and it looks fucking crazy. I kind of, I mean, I know I didn’t leave on the best terms, but Mike’s always been, I mean, he’s been my buddy forever, you know? I just wanted to check that he’s OK, cos they’re saying omegas need an alpha now and he doesn’t have one, so I guess I just wanted him to know if he needed a place to stay, to get out of NYC, he could come and stay -”

“Trevor, take a breath.”

“Yeah, sorry, I just… I tried calling him but I’m not getting any answer. And I thought he was maybe just avoiding it cos he knew it was me, but I called from a different number and still nothing. So I tried calling your office, but everyone seemed real cagey when I asked for him. Gotta admit Mr Specter, I’m really worried right now. That’s why I figured I’d call you. Is Mike OK?”

Harvey pinched the bridge of his nose, the impending headache getting stronger. There was definitely no way around this conversation now. 

“Trevor… Mike’s missing.”

“Missing? What do you mean? He bolted cos of the registration shit?”

“No, it’s not that. He’s been gone nearly three weeks.”

“What the fuck? That’s before this whole shit even started! Before that psycho omega tried to take out that guy!”

“Trevor, calm down.”

“Calm down? What the hell, man? I’ve been looking out for him our whole lives! I know I fucked up, but I never wanted to leave in the first place. The only thing that made it OK was that I trusted you to keep him safe. What the fuck kind of alpha are you?”

“Trevor, I’m not his alpha!”

“Fuck you man. He idolises you. The fuck you aren’t his alpha, who else does he have? I may only be some beta, but at least I looked out for him.”

“You were messing up his life!”

“Maybe I was, but at least I didn’t lose him! Where is he, Harvey? WHERE THE HELL IS HE? If anything’s happened to him, I swear to god, I will hunt you down.”

“Trevor –“

The click, followed by silence, on the other end of the line told Harvey he’d been hung up on. Fucking Trevor. He’d been screwing up Mike’s life since they’d been kids. Where did he get off blaming Harvey for something that couldn’t possibly be his fault? The trouble was, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t find it in himself to disagree with a word Trevor had said. 

-

The first thing Mike was aware of as he slowly came back to consciousness was the dry, burning sensation in his throat. His jaw ached, but at least his mouth was now closed and his blindfold back on, which for once he was grateful for as it meant that, at least temporarily, his nightmare with Senator Mitchell was at an end. 

Now fully awake, he realised that the Senator was talking quietly to Doctor Jackson by the door and strained to listen. 

“I’m not interfering, Thomas, merely making a suggestion. I just think it would have been better to ease him into things; you can’t expect a novice omega to immediately be able to swallow someone of your… girth.”

“Oh, I knew he wouldn’t be able to get it down his throat. Few can, after all! I guess I just got a bit carried away. It’s not as fun when they’re out of it. Next time I’ll make damn sure he’s awake enough to swallow everything, if you get my meaning.”

“Yes… I think your meaning is quite clear.” Jackson cleared his throat. “Anyway, it was only an observation. In a couple of days, he will of course be entirely in your care and you will be able to do as you will.”

“Trust me, I have big plans for this little one. Monday is going to be hell with the registrations starting, so I’ll pick him up first thing Tuesday if that’s convenient to you.”

“I’ll make sure everything is prepared. Oh, here is his blood test results. As you can see, completely drug free.”

“Excellent. With luck he’ll come into heat soon. There’s nothing like fucking an omega in heat is there? Needy little sluts. Anyhow, I better be going. Early start tomorrow – a politician’s work is never done, right?”

“Of course, I’ll show you out, Senator.”

Barely five minutes after they had left, Mike heard the door open again. 

“Well now, you’ve had an interesting evening, have you not? Are you regretting your previous actions now? If you’d only let me claim you, you wouldn’t be about to get handed over to our friend, would you?”

Jackson stroked his neck almost tenderly. “I bet you’re pretty sore right now. You’re lucky he was more than a little drunk; I’ve known him to be so rough that some omegas can’t even speak after for several days.”

Mike felt the rim of a bottle of water pressed to his lips so, opening his mouth, he drank greedily, the cold fluid first stinging sharply but then easing the pain in his throat. 

“There’s a good boy. I know it’s hard right now, but I’ve been through all this many times. Give it six weeks, maybe eight, and he’ll be bored of you. He’ll bring you back here to swap for someone new. Contrary to opinion, I am a patient man. As long as he’s not damaged you beyond repair, I can wait. I will claim you and breed you, and, if you can pass that amazing mind of yours on, between us we will see the start of a new kind of alpha. For now, let’s make sure there are no accidents while you’re with the Senator.”

Mike felt the needle puncture his arm, but this time felt no relief at the thought of having his heat suppressed. He didn’t share Jackson’s confidence that the Senator would return him, not now he knew that he hadn’t been fooled by the Doctor’s claims of who had assaulted him. Whatever else was going to happen, he had a feeling that any arrangements the two alphas had previously made were now null and void. 

And then there was Harvey. Why was the Senator so determined to hurt Harvey, and why did he think that seeing Mike abused was the best way to do this? Whatever had happened to piss him off, and Mike was certainly under no illusions at how good Harvey was at that, it didn’t seem likely that it was a grudge that would easily be forgotten. 

As the doctor left him alone with his thoughts, Mike finally began to utterly despair. He was now completely convinced that, no matter which of the two alphas he ended up with, there was now no chance that he’d escape with his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um... 
> 
> *runs away*


	28. Chapter 28

Hey guys, this is just a quick note by way of apology. 

I was already hopelessly late with updating cos of job/money/life issues and then, oops, laptop has gone tits up. Am getting sorted, but in the meantime it will mean a slight delay while i sort out a new one, get office installed, stop panicking myself into an early grave etc. 

Thank you for sticking with me, apologies to those bailing, and assurances that I will hopefully have an update soon (ish) - it's getting closer to the climax! 

(and, erm, sorry again if anyone got excited at the thought of a new chapter. I shall try my best to make it up to you all!)


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, this note is just going to be several apologies! Firstly, I am SOOOO sorry for how long it's taken to get this up - life has been doing it's best to get in the way I'm afraid (including, but not limited to, a car accident, a damaged ankle, possible eviction and job worries!), so this story has had to take a back seat! Second apology is how short this chapter is compared to usual - I would generally wait until I have written a good chunk before posting, but everyone has been so patient that I thought 'fuck it', a couple of thousand words is better than nothing.
> 
> And lastly, sorry for the opening of this chapter. Please don't come at me with pitchforks!

Mike blinked, groggy from sleep. Everything was too bright, too white. Attempting to sit up, he realised there was an IV in his arm, and as the world slowly came back into focus he was confronted with a hospital room. 

“Hey, hey, don't try to sit up yet. Thank god you're awake.”

The voice, so familiar to him, sounded wrong, filled with panic and concern. 

“Harvey? Is that you?”

“Who were you expecting, the Queen? Although Donna is right outside...”

Mike shook his head, confused. “I don't… I don't understand. What...”

“You've been out of it since we got you last night. They must have pumped you full of every drug known to science. You had me scared, kid.”

Mike sank back, exhausted and bewildered. 

“How? How did you...” He trailed off. 

“We had an anonymous tip off. Some woman who worked at the lab, the cops wouldn't tell me her name.” Harvey rolled his eyes at this. “Sounds like we got to you just in time, looked like they were getting you ready to go somewhere.”

“Oh god, the Senator. Did you find him? Has he been arrested?”

When Harvey didn't answer immediately, Mike looked up into his eyes and was surprised to see what could only be embarrassment there. 

“It's not as simple as that, Mike.”

Harvey sat down on the side of the bed, near enough to be touched. Mike hesitantly reached out a hand to him, but instead of taking it, Harvey merely patted it awkwardly. 

“The Senator is an important man. A powerful man. While he was obviously involved, he can't be connected with any of the murders.”

“But I saw him! I saw...”

“But there’s no evidence. And you're an omega. Who's going to believe an omega's word against such a powerful alpha?”

“But… I mean, you...” The look of pity on Harvey's face was unmistakeable. 

“Besides, it's probably best for you that he comes away from this as cleanly as he can.”

“I don't understand...” Nothing was making sense to Mike. He knew he was still groggy from whatever they'd given him, and was desperately wanting Harvey to explain everything to him. Harvey, was looking at him with concern. 

“It's much better for you to be with a powerful alpha than one in jail, isn't it? We've both seen what happens to omegas who are bonded to cons.”

Mike's felt as if his blood had frozen in his veins. 

“Bonded? No, no… no! We didn't… he didn't...”

Harvey patted his hand again, then stood up, as if unwilling to be too close to another alpha's mate. 

“I'm sorry, Mike. It must have been while you were drugged. There's no doubt.”

“No, he can't have! He… I wasn't in heat! I know I wasn't! He can't!”

“Come on, you need to calm down or I'll have to call the nurse and she'll make me leave.” The look on Harvey's face suggested that this wasn't the worst scenario for him. Mike's panic turned to despair.

“I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but if you think about it, you'll know it's for the best. I mean, it might have been _theoretically_ possible to find you another alpha after this, but nobody of any status could have taken you on. You're a smart kid, you understand that, right?”

Mike stared at him, trying to register what he was being told. When he finally spoke, his mouth was dry. 

“What about you?”

It was Harvey's turn to look confused.

“What about me?”

“I thought… I mean, I'd hoped, maybe, one day...” He trailed off, hoping Harvey had understood. By the look of pity and what Mike could only class as disgust, he had.

“Oh Mike. I can understand why you'd want that, but you know it could never have happened, right? I mean, you're a fraud. We both know that. And we know that you could never rise higher than senior associate at most. I'm a named partner, I have an image to protect. And especially with this scandal… God, Jessica would never forgive me!”

Mike didn't know if Harvey continued talking; all he could hear was white noise. He felt as if the room was spinning, with Harvey, still explaining the situation as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, right at the centre. 

“Mike? Are you alright? Michael? MICHAEL!”

Mike sat bolt upright, trembling violently. Alison was standing next to his bed, shaking his arm hard. 

“Oh god. I thought...”

“Michael, come on. We have to get you out of here.”

Mike shook himself, his relief at waking up immediately vanishing at the realisation that he was still in the lab. 

“Come on, please, we have to move.”

Finally snapping alert, Mike managed to half roll, half climb off the bed. 

“What's happening?”

“The Senator's here. I don't know why, but he's come to get you now. We have to get you out of here.”

“Shit.”

She handed him a pair of jogging pants. “Get these on, grab Reggie and let's go.”

Alison moved over to the door, actually turning to face it as Mike pulled on the pants. He nearly laughed at the absurdity of it, given she'd seen him nude so often. 

As soon as he'd pulled them and bundled his companion up in a towel which he clutched to his chest, Alison pulled the door open and walked straight into Senator Mitchell. As she stared at him in horror, he spoke into the intercom. 

“I'm always so impressed by the efficiency of your staff. Despite my sudden arrival at this _un-couth_ time of night, Dr Williams here has still made the effort to get her patient all ready for collection.”

Dr Jackson’s voice crackled, “Oh yes, I think dear Doctor Williams definitely deserves a bonus.”

Alison backed into the room, the alpha following in after her. 

“All ready to go, boy?” The Senator saw the bundle he was holding and frowned. “Now, you know I said you couldn't bring the dog, right? Come on, give it to the nice lady.”

Mike swallowed, trying not to show his terror as it would only scare Reggie. He didn't want the puppy to know anything was wrong. He kissed him gently on the top of his head, then handed him over, still wrapped up in his towel, to Alison. Turning to Senator, he said, “Could I please have a moment with Dr Williams? Just a moment alone to say goodbye?”

The Senator frowned. “I always forget what needy little shits omegas are. You're like ducklings, imprinting on the nearest thing and getting way too attached. Well, you're MY omega now, so anything you wanna say to her you can say in front of me. And make it quick.”

He nodded, and turned to her, trying to forget the alpha standing there watching. 

“Um, I wanted to say thank you for looking after me while I've been here. And, um, please take care of Reggie for me. He needs a lot of hugs and really likes his belly scratched. And make sure he does his exercises, even if he doesn't want to. Um, and -”

“Right, let's get you sorted then. I'm sure Dr Williams has other things to do, including taking that animal away.”

Alison nodded, trying to retain her composure. As she turned to leave, Reggie clutched tight against her chest, Mike called out to her. 

“Alison! Promise me you won't blame yourself for this. Because I don't. Not for anything.”

Without turning back, she left, shutting the door behind her as the tears started to roll down her cheek. 

The Senator smirked as the door closed, then lent forward and picked up the blindfold from where it had been left. 

“Now, as the doc will be along any sec to get you ready to go, we better make sure you’re prepared. You know how fussy he is.”

-

Harvey groaned and groped for his phone, the ringing feeling like a scalpel in his head. Glancing at the time as he picked up, he growled into the receiver.

“It's 3am, whoever this is it had better be fucking important.”

“And hello to you too, Harvey. I could have sworn you practically begged me to keep you updated.”

“Shit, Elliott. I'm sorry. Though I didn't beg. I never beg.”

“Sure you didn't.”

“Elliott, what's going on? You have news?”

“We got the order. We're going in first light, 6am.”

Harvey collapsed back onto the bed in relief. 

“Good. That's good. You'll lead it, right?”

“Of course. But Harvey, you know how these things go. We don't know what we're going to find. We might not find anything at all.”

“He's there, I know he's there.”

“And Harvey Specter is never wrong, is he.” He heard the cop sigh down the line. “Look, Harvey, I'm just saying. We always want these things to go perfectly but it's just not always possible. Try not to get your hopes too high, OK?”

“I'm a big boy, I know the score.”

“I know, just… never mind. I'll call you as soon as there's news, OK?”

“You better. I'm trusting you to bring him home, Elliott.”

“Yeah. I know. Bye Harvey.”

Knowing he now had no chance of sleep, Harvey got up and headed to the kitchen, and more importantly, the coffee machine. He knew Elliott was right, that there were a multitude of things that might go wrong with the raid, and that's even assuming Mike was there. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel more hopeful than he'd allowed himself to be through this whole ordeal that he might finally be getting his associate back where he belonged. 

-

It had taken Alison nearly ten minutes to regain her composure, most of which had been taken up with trying to hide the fact she had been crying. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to the animal lab and stepped inside. 

Moving quickly, she briefly wondered if she should disconnect the CCTV, but decided it would slow her down too much. Besides, it wasn’t like Jackson would have any doubt as to who had been responsible when he found out what she’d done. 

Fumbling for her keys, she unlocked one of the large, wheeled cages used for transporting the animals and pushed the still bundled Reggie into it. She’d almost manoeuvred it to the door when she heard a soft whine; looking back into the gloomy lab, she could see several pairs of eyes watching her. 

-

Mike was perched on the edge of his bed, blindfolded, with his hands bound in front of him, when he heard Jackson enter the room. 

“I see we’re nearly ready to go. No second thoughts, Senator?”

“Oh, I don’t think so. I can see he’s going to be a stubborn little thing, but I’ll soon fix that.”

“Hah, well I’ll look forward to seeing the new and improved version when you bring him back.”

“Hmm. Maybe I’ll keep this one. Those gossips in the news keep saying it’s about time I settled down.”

Jackson snorted. “You’ve said that before, but each time you get bored in a few weeks and bring them back.”

“Well, we’ll see won’t we? I’m sure if that’s the case you’ll find me a cute little replacement like usual.” 

“You can trust me on that. Now, we better get you two going, hadn’t we?”

Mike felt his arm being grabbed, then the familiar feeling of a needle being pushed in. Immediately his thoughts started to become foggy; the last thing he was aware of before losing his fight for consciousness was Jackson’s voice, whispering right by his ear. 

“You be a good boy, I’ll be seeing you very soon.”


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know. 
> 
> I'm not even going to apologise for the tardiness anymore - it's pretty much inevitable. Anyway, here you go. Hope this satisfies those wanting more plot. We're getting nearer to the climax, I promise!

“Why hasn’t he called yet? What time is it now?”

“I don’t know, Donna, and its 8.45, about eight minutes after the last time you asked.”

“I hate waiting.”

“I’d never have noticed.”

Donna stared at her boss. “Why are you so calm? You hate waiting even more than I do.”

Harvey shrugged. “I’m not even sure. I just have a good feeling about this. Elliott is a good man, I trust him to bring Mike home.”

Perching herself on the arm of the couch, Donna stared into her coffee for several seconds. 

“Harvey, you know how badly I want Mike back. And you know that all along I’ve been as positive as I can that everything is going to be OK.”

“Donna – “

“I just think we have to consider the possibility…”

“No, we don’t. There is no possibility. It’s going to be fine.”

“How is going into full blown denial going to help anything? Harvey, for god’s sake – “

“Just stop! Please, stop. I have to believe it’s going to be all right. The alternative…. There is no alternative right now. OK? And I need to know you’re behind me on this.”

Donna shook her head. “You know I am.” She sighed. “Let’s just wait and see what Elliott finds.”

Slightly mollified, Harvey drained his own coffee and headed back to the kitchen to get fresh. When he returned, Donna had switched on the TV and was frowning at the news.

“Let me guess, it’s all puppies and kittens, nothing bad has happened and all is right with the world?”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. Apart from the flood of omegas leaving the city, the curfew, the riots, and oh yeah, the huge fire that’s apparently raging downtown. Everything’s just peachy.”

“Great, cos what this city needs is another disaster right now.”

Harvey flicked through the messages on his phone, mainly to check to see if anything vital had come up despite it being Sunday morning, but secretly hoping he’d find a missed call from Elliott, or indeed any sign that the morning’s raid had been a success. 

“Harvey…”

“Jesus, Donna, it’s five minutes after the last time you asked!”

“No, Harvey, look!”

Glancing at the TV, Harvey was briefly confused by what Donna was gesturing at. The screen showed a map detailing where the fire was burning, as the reporter urged people to stay away from the area. 

“What am I… oh my god!”

“It might be a coincidence, we don’t know for sure.”

“Sure, it might be a coincidence that the same time the cops are going in to raid the lab it suddenly burns down! Shit like that happens all the time. Fuck. I need to get hold of Elliott.”

-

For several seconds, Mike wasn’t sure if he’d woken up at all. Everything was so black that at first he thought he was still wearing the blindfold, till he reached up and touched his face. Still woozy from the injection, he had to fight with the grogginess to try and make sense of his surroundings. Reaching out, he felt wire in front and above him and realised he was in a cage, probably no more than five feet square. A quick experiment made it clear that it was neither tall enough to stand up in nor wide enough to lie down properly. 

Curling his legs up against his chest, he felt himself to start drifting back under when it felt as if the floor lurched beneath him. Slapping the side of his head as if it would help to clear it, Mike struggled against the fog in his brain; he could practically feel the tiny part of his consciousness that was thinking clearly fight for his attention. 

The sudden, loud ‘honk’ finally broke through his stupor. He was in some kind of vehicle, caged in the back or what was probably a truck. It was true, then, the Senator had finally managed to take possession of him. As the drugs pulled him under again, he tried not to think about what he would find the next time he awoke. 

-  
Harvey threw his cell down onto the couch in frustration. “Why isn’t he answering?”

“Because if the fire is connected to this morning’s raid, he might be rather busy?”

Harvey glared at his secretary. 

“I’m just saying! There’ll be a lot of organisation. Especially if he started it.”

“Donna…”

He was stopped short of what would certainly have been a deeply cutting, yet hyper witty remark by the sound of his cell-phone ringing. 

“Elliot! Finally. What the fuck is going on?” 

“I’m sorry, Harvey, it’s been crazy here. I’m guessing you’ve heard about the fire?”

“Damn right, what the hell happened?”

“We don’t know, it was raging before we even got here. There’s two teams of firefighters here trying to put it out, but we won’t know more until they do.”

“Two? I saw the film from there, they need twice that!”

“Tell me something I don’t know! But you’ve seen the state of this town, Harvey. Everywhere’s gridlocked. Right now we just have to do our best.”

“Elliot… do you know if there was anyone inside when it started?”

He heard his friend exhale down the line and waited.

“The only person we’ve spoken to here was the receptionist. She was just arriving when the alarms sounded. According to her, at this time on a weekend there might be as many as half a dozen people in the labs, or as few as one, just tending to the animals. Until we can get into the building we won’t know for sure. And before you say it, we asked her about any patients or non-staff on the property and she swore blind that there were none, that they were a non-human experimentation lab.”

Harvey practically growled with frustration at this. “She’s gotta be lying. I _know_ this lab is at the bottom of this.”

“Look Harvey, she may be lying, or she may genuinely know nothing. But right now I suggest you hope that she’s right about him not being there, cos looking at this place right now I’d say there’s less than a 1% chance of them finding somebody alive in there.”

-

As the truck rolled to a stop and she yanked on the hand-break, Alison took a second to collect herself. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, jumped down from the cab and headed to the first person with a name tag she saw, a teenage girl leaning up against the wall with a cigarette. 

“Hi, I called earlier. I’m looking for Earl?”

The girl reached over and opened the door, not bothering to lean in. “EARL! Your visitor turned up!”

A young man in a cap came out of the office, wiping his hands on a cloth, and held out his hand, grinning at her.

“Morning, you must be Alison. I was wondering if you’d changed your mind.”

“Sorry, it’s taken me nearly two hours just to drive the last couple of miles here.”

He shrugged. “No matter, you’re here now. Wanna show me what you got?”

Nodding, Alison walked around to the back of the truck and opened the door. The sudden light flooding in caused the vehicle’s inhabitants to immediately wake up, filling the air with the sound of scrabbling paws and whining. 

“Like I said earlier, they’re all healthy, and pretty well-adjusted, considering.”

Earl leaned back out from where he’d been sticking his fingers through the dog crate’s wire. 

“And if I were to ask you how you came across a litter of what are clearly lab bred beagles….”

He let the question hang in the air. 

“I don’t know what you mean. This was an accident that happened after my aunt let her dog out in the park while she was on heat. She wanted to keep them all, but at her age we convinced her it’s just impossible. I’ve brought them here because I’ve been informed that you have a strict ‘no kill’ policy on any strays you get in.”

She held his gaze firmly, daring him to contradict her. After a few seconds, he let out a sharp laugh. 

“Well, I can sympathise, Miss. We all have relatives who aren’t the sharpest tool, right? Accidents happen.”

Alison allowed herself to relax slightly. The main reason she’d come to this shelter, rather than one that was nearer, was that it had a reputation as one that would take in ex-laboratory animals with a minimum of fuss. Previously, she’d heard it cursed about by some of the lab techs as being ‘in thrall to those goddamn animal rights psychos’, but right now she swore to herself to never think a derogatory thought about them again. 

“Anyway, as far as no-kill goes, you’re right, we’d never euthanise a healthy dog. But I don’t think you’d have anything to worry about with these. Cute little pups like these ones will be snapped up in no time.”

While they’d been talking, the teen had finished her cigarette and had reappeared with a wheeled pen. Alison opened up the crate in the truck and started handing the pups to Earl one by one. 

“There you go, three girls and two boys. Make sure you get them good homes, please?”

Earl frowned as he peered into the back of the truck. “Is there another one back there? I thought you said six beagles when you called earlier.”

Alison smiled at him. “You’re right, I did. But I’ve been doing a bit of thinking, and I think I have a much better home for that little one.”

“Alright then. I’m guessing you don’t want me to give you any paperwork…” She shook her head.

“Then we’re all done. Don’t worry Miss…”

“Alison. Just Alison is fine.”

“Alright Alison. Like I said, don’t worry. I’ll make sure these little guys get the best homes, and until then they’ll be safe as houses here.”

Shaking her hand, he grabbed the handle of the trolley and started wheeling it away. 

“Oh, one more thing. Have you got a shop or something here? I could do with buying a few things. I don’t even have a leash yet!”

“Sure, just take a left past the office, we’ll have everything you need.”

Alison sighed, then turned back to the last inhabitant of the truck. 

“It’s just you and me now, Reg. Guess we better be going if we’re gonna get to your new home anytime soon. You be a good boy while I go get you some food.”

Shutting the tailgate back up, she headed towards the shop, wondering what exactly a ten week old puppy might need. 

-

“Wakey wakey. I’m a busy man, you can’t expect to sleep all day.”

Mike blinked awake, groggily. He couldn’t see anything to begin with, the bright light shining in the open doors of the van blinding his eyes. As things started to come into focus, he realised the front of the cage was unlocked and the Senator was standing alone in front of him, beckoning him out. Glancing around quickly, he tried to take in the environment to gauge whether there was any chance of escape, but it seemed the Senator had expected that. 

“I know what you’re thinking. He’s alone, no big, beefed up orderlies to push you around. But you might want to remember this – I’m armed, and have no problem using lethal force if I have to. Besides, somehow I doubt you’d be able to overpower me right now. You ain’t looking your best, boy. Now get yourself out of there before I drag you out.”

Swallowing any temptation to answer back and make his precarious condition any worse, Mike slowly inched forward and swung his legs out, shakily standing up on trembling legs that were still wracked with pins and needles from the journey. He now saw he was in some form of underground garage – he could see no source of natural light. Glancing behind him, he could see a ramp which the truck had obviously come down, but it curved around, hiding it’s destination. In front of him, Mitchell smirked. 

“As you can see, there’s no way out back there. You could try running up that ramp, but all you’d find is a door you can’t get out of.” Grabbing Mike’s wrist, he pulled him forward. “Now, let’s get you settled. I’ve got a long day of work ahead, and don’t need you disturbing me.”

Mike allowed himself to be tugged along towards the only door visible. There was a code panel next to it, which the Senator made no attempt to cover as he typed a lengthy stream of numbers and letters into. The door slid open, revealing a narrow elevator. With no obvious alternative, Mike followed him in. 

-

Harvey had been sat on his couch, flipping between news channels, for over two hours. 

“How can they call this breaking news? They’ve said nothing new for the past hour! All they’re doing is repeating the same bullshit theories over and over.”

Donna rolled her eyes, ignoring him, and continued her telephone conversation. 

“I’m glad it’s not so bad over there, but I still think you should stay put. No, I know you don’t. Yes, but Jessica has made it clear that she’s ok with omegas not coming into the office. No, I know you have a work ethic, but that won’t help if… No, I’m not saying you should hide. Look at it this way, if the streets are as bad tomorrow as they are today you’re not going to make it in anyway. I’m sure Louis can cope without you for once. Well, he’ll have to. Of course I’ll let you know. Talk to you later.”

Hanging up, she collapsed next to Harvey on the couch. 

“Rachel already stir crazy?”

“She was insisting on coming in tomorrow. I think I’ve persuaded her not to, but… we’ll see. She hates anybody thinking she’s a weak link.” Tucking her legs up under her, she glanced at the TV. 

“Nothing new then?”

“They keep showing an interview with this bystander who saw an omega run past them just after the fire broke out. So obviously he’s the main suspect.”

“Seriously? On what grounds?”

“On the grounds of being an omega near a possible crime scene.” Harvey sighed. “They don’t even know if it was started deliberately yet and they’ve already started looking for a scape goat.”

“Fuck. It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?”

“You’re not kidding.”

They sat there in silence for several minutes, watching the same soundbites being repeated in lieu of actual news again and again. Harvey was just about to suggest ordering out for lunch when his cell rang; seeing Elliott’s name, he grabbed it before the second ring. 

“Elliott, what’s the news?”

“Nothing good I’m afraid. It’s too early to be definite, but according to our arson experts they’re pretty sure it was started on purpose.”

“So someone set a fire the same day you’re going to raid it. That sounds like a damn big coincidence to me.”

“Tell me about it, but it was pretty tight on lock down. I’m going to have to investigate everyone who knew we were going in; word must have got out somehow, but I really don’t like the idea that one of my guys might be a mole. Did you tell anyone else?”

“Not a sole. Well, except Donna, but she’s been here with me the whole time. And besides, she’s Donna.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me that. Shit. This just gets worse and worse, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it does.”

“Listen, Harvey… That’s not the worst of it.”

His mouth suddenly going dry, Harvey grabbed the luke-warm coffee from the table in front of him and gulped some down. 

“Tell me.”

“Harvey… they’ve found some bodies. Two male, we’re not sure about the third yet. It may be a while before we’ve ID’d them, but I’m sorry, you need to prepare for the worst.”

Harvey didn’t reply immediately. Donna, sitting near enough to have heard the conversation, grabbed his free hand and clutched it tightly. 

“How, um, how badly are they burned?”

“Bad enough that there’s no question of a visual ID being done, and definitely no hope for finger prints. We’ll try for dental records, but that might take a while.”

“Right. OK. Let me know, won’t you?”

“Of course. I’m sorry Harvey. I wish I had better news.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s fine. You better get back to work.”

“I’ll call you later, OK? Bye Harvey.”

They sat there, clutching each other’s hands, for several minutes, not speaking. Eventually, Harvey cleared his throat and stood up, disentangling himself from Donna’s grip.

“I think I need to take a walk. Clear my head a little.”

Donna nodded, at a loss for once in her life. “Sure. I’ll fix us some lunch, OK?”

Grabbing his jacket but leaving his cell phone on the table, Harvey headed out the door.

-

When the elevator doors opened, Mike had to bite down on his tongue to keep from laughing hysterically. In front of him was a large room, its walls covered in thick red velvet, filled with every conceivable type of bondage furniture and gear; it was as if someone had found an S&M catalogue and simply ordered everything. 

“Like what you see? Let me show you around a little. After all, this place is going to be your home for quite a while.”

The Senator then proceeded to walk Mike around the room, taking obvious pleasure in showing off his ‘toys’; a wall of whips and chains here, a St Andrew’s Cross there. Around the sides of the room were various glass-fronted cupboards. One was filled entirely with differently shaped dildos of various sizes, one had a range of thin metal rods which Mike didn’t recognise but his gut told him he didn’t want to get better acquainted with – when they passed by, his suspicion was confirmed when the Senator mentioned his collection of sounding rods. 

The middle of the room was devoted to a cage, roughly six foot square and maybe four foot high. Along each side of it hung various chains, enabling the occupant to be constricted in various positions. 

“Come on, take a closer look. You’ll be getting pretty familiar with this place, so you might as well get used to it now.”

Grabbing his shoulder, the Senator pulled Mike over to the cage. As he got closer, he realised the roof wasn’t made of metal bars like the rest of it, but was instead covered in what looked like some kind of rubber, with hooks driven in to each corner. Keeping his grip tight, Mitchell reached forward and unlocked the cage door. 

“I told you how I like to entertain guests here. I’m a convivial man by nature, and of course politics is a life that does necessitate socialising. My little soirees have achieved, I’m pleased to say, a certain amount of fame amongst a particular class of people, and I will expect you to continue that tradition.”

He pushed Mike forward, forcing him to bend down and crawl into the cage. Once he was inside, the Senator shut the door and locked it, tucking the key into his breast pocket. 

“I believe I mentioned that the current record amongst my omegas is three alphas at once. I think we can do better than that, can’t we? The election’s getting closer, we need to keep our donors happy don’t we? Oh don’t worry. I’ll start you off easy. I’m not planning on entertaining here for at least another three or four nights – these things take time to plan you know.”

Mike pulled his knees up to his chest; the cage was too small to stand up in. Senator Mitchell smirked at him. 

“Now, as much as I’d like to start getting to know you better, unfortunately my day is already far too busy. You better make yourself comfortable. For now, that cage is your new home until I know I can trust you to be allowed out on your own.” He reached through the bars and tilted Mike’s head so that he looked straight at him. “You will sleep when I tell you to, eat when I tell you to. The only time you come out of this cage is when I allow it.” He pushed his thumb into Mike’s mouth. “Let me be clear. The very air in your lungs is in my gift. You understand me?”

As Mitchell stepped back, Mike nodded. Everything was crystal clear. Pleased, the Senator turned and headed back to the elevator they had come up in. 

“I’ll be back in a few hours. I suggest you get some sleep; you might not have much chance later.”

With that parting shot, he was gone. 

-

It was over two hours before Harvey entered his building again. He had thought a walk might help him clear his head, but it had made worse. Everywhere around him was chaos; the streets were gridlocked with traffic, cars and buses filled with omegas and their families fleeing before the registration deadline. Even the sidewalks were packed, as those without transport opted to leave the city on foot; this was the riskiest option, as for every omega attempting to escape there seemed to be an alpha or beta ready to start a fight. After witnessing the third such altercation during his walk, this one needing his intervention to prevent two betas from harassing an omega on her own with a small child, Harvey finally gave up and headed home. 

As he entered the lobby, the doorman called over to him. 

“Mr Specter! I’m so glad to see you. We’ve taken delivery of an urgent, erm, item for you.”

Harvey stared at him as if he was an idiot. “Well, you’d better give it me then.”

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple sir. Would you mind just coming with me for a moment? It’s just in our post room.”

Sighing internally, Harvey shrugged and followed the doorman through to the building’s back office. 

-

Donna stood on the penthouse balcony, staring down at the city below. Even from up here, where it was usually guaranteed to be peaceful, she could sense the chaos. After Harvey had left, she’d tried to find something to prepare for lunch, but she eventually realised it was pointless; she couldn’t have eaten anything if she tried, and doubted Harvey could either. Since then she’d been pacing between the living room and the bedroom, desperate for something to distract her from thinking about the three burnt bodies that Elliott had found, until she had eventually found herself on the balcony. 

The sound of the front door startled her out of her thoughts; she took a moment to collect herself before going back inside. Harvey needed her to be strong right now, so that was what she was going to be. The last thing he needed was her breaking down. 

“Donna? You there?” 

His voice echoed through the penthouse. 

“Coming!”

Checking her reflection to make sure she looked alright, she re-entered the condo and found Harvey holding a large box, no longer looking upset, but instead radiating confusion. 

“Harvey? What is it?”

Placing the box very carefully on the floor, he stepped backwards nervously. “I think you better see for yourself.”

“I’m not sure I’m in the mood for guessing games right now Harvey.” 

He shrugged at her. “I’m not trying to be cryptic. I just don’t think you’ve believe me if I told you. 

Half expecting to hear ticking, Donna approached the box and tentatively lifted the lid, letting out a small gasp as she did so. 

“Oh. My. God.“


	31. Chapter 31

From the cage he was sitting in, Mike had a fairly good view of the room, though he almost wished he didn’t. Pretty much every direction he looked in was filled with what could easily be mistaken for torture implements, albeit a torturer with a red velvet fetish. Despite appearances, Mike wasn’t as naïve as some people might think; he glanced at the row of handcuffs hanging off some hooks on the far wall and considered how, if his life had gone differently, he might have had more than a passing interest in such things (he pointedly ignored the brief image of Harvey that the thought conjured up). As things stood now, however, he could think of nothing worse than being restrained in any way. 

Only one wall had any windows, and they were high up, showing only blue sky; his best guess from the elevator ride had suggested they might be heading for the roof, and this seemed to confirm that. That pretty much ruled out jumping from the window, he thought ruefully. 

Apart from the fifty-shades of bondage tools he could see, there wasn’t much else of interest in the room, with the exception of a large desk underneath one of the windows. From Mike’s angle it was hard to see what was on it, apart from what looked like a small laptop. This seemed odd; was this really the best place for the Senator to do his work? The thought of him take phone calls from important politicians while he was sitting there getting blown by his [i]omega-du-jour[/i] elicited an actual laugh from Mike, and once he started he couldn’t stop. Before many moments had passed he was laughing so hard he couldn’t catch his breath; sitting there, rocking with laughter, he realised he had become hysterical but could do nothing to stop it. It took several more minutes before he had calmed down fully.

Once his breathing was even again, he started looking around for any glimmer of hope that he may have a way out. It didn’t take much investigation to find that he had no way of getting out of the cage as it was locked tight. Even if he did get the door open, the only exit was through the elevator; his line of vision had been blocked when the Senator had left, but he was pretty sure he had had to input a security code to call it. Right now, it looked like there was nothing to do but wait. 

-

“Put that phone down.”

“Donna, no, I’m not even arguing about this.”

“How can you even consider it? I mean, look at him!”

“I’ve looked, and what I’ve seen is a three legged mutt that someone’s abandoned here as a joke. If I find out Louis is behind it…”

“Louis has better things to do right now than play this kind of joke on you. Besides, while his heart belongs to the feline side of the animal kingdom, I can’t believe he would ever subject a puppy this adorable to you. Now put that phone down – it’s not like the pound could get here through the traffic anyway.”

Harvey grunted in frustration, but hung up his cell phone. Looking over to where Donna was sitting, he rolled his eyes in despair; she was actually on the floor – the floor! – cross-legged, with the … animal upside down on her lap as she scratched his belly. 

“You know, I’ve long expected someone to leave a baby on your doorstep, I just never thought it would be like this. You see, that's funny cos you've dated a lot of bitches.

“Ha ha ha. Maybe stop thinking up more _hysterical_ jokes and start helping me figure out who left it here and why. As if we don’t have enough bullshit to deal with at the moment.”

“Him, Harvey, he’s a boy, not an it. And I honestly have no idea why anyone would give you a puppy – I wouldn’t trust you with a sea-monkey.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

“Harvey, seriously. Apart from the fact you’ve refused to even touch him, I really can’t see you cleaning up dog pee. Maybe it’s all a mistake. Did your doorman say who’d left the box?”

“Some kid. Apparently a woman paid him $10 to bring the box in. The only description was she was ‘old’, which for a teenager could mean anything from early 20s to 90.”

“Helpful.”

“Yeah.” Harvey turned his attention back to the box which had delivered this latest nightmare into his life. Inside he had found, apart from the canine tripod currently stealing the heart of his secretary, a bag of dog food, a collar and leash, and an assortment of chew toys, along with a large, ratty towel that he had been curled up in. 

Sighing, he walked over to Donna and became increasingly horrified as he realised she was speaking the most ridiculous baby-talk he had ever heard. 

“Who’s a good dog? You are! Yes you are! You are just the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Donna, come on. You know I can’t keep it. Him. Whatever. We need to either figure out where he came from and return him, or he has to go to the pound.”

“You are _not_ taking him to the pound. Seriously, Harvey, how could you? Look at him! He’s adorable!”

“Since when did I become someone who takes on stray puppies?”

Donna finally tore her gaze away from the puppy and looked up at Harvey, pointedly. He held her gaze obstinately for several moments, before finally throwing up his hands. 

“Fine. You now have a puppy to look after. You get to feed it, walk it, assuming it can, and you definitely get to clean up after it.”

The joy radiating from Donna’s face nearly made it all worth it for Harvey; god knows none of them had had reason to smile in the last few weeks.

“Trust me, he’s going to be an angel. He needs a name though…”

“How about Louis? He’s about as useful as a three legged dog.”

“Harvey, behave. Or do I need to train you as well?” 

A soft whine caused her to turn her attention back to the pup; he’d managed to right himself in her arms, and was whimpering. 

“What’s wrong with it?”

“HIM, Harvey. And I don’t know. I guess he may be hungry? There’s food in the box isn’t there? And we should give him some water. I’m guessing wherever he’s come from he’s had a traumatic day, only to be abandoned with strangers. Seriously, who could give up something as cute as this?”

“It’s truly a mystery.”

Off Donna’s look, Harvey sighed. “Fine, I’ll find some bowls. I’m guessing you can’t call for takeout for dogs.”

“This is New York, I’m pretty sure you can, but we have some already so there’s really no need. I doubt he’s as fussy as you.”

Harvey snorted, and headed to the kitchen, where he managed to find two old pasta bowls that looked shallow enough for a small dog to eat out of. Filling one with water, he put it down on the tiles, then turned back to the box to open the dog food. 

“Jesus, when did this become my life. A three legged dog? Don’t people usually drown them?”

“Harvey Reginald Specter, I better not hear you say anything like that again, or so help me I will go and work for Louis.”

Donna tucked the puppy under her arm and headed into the kitchen.

“How about Snoopy? He’s a beagle, after all. No? I guess it’s not original enough. Sebastian! Though that seems a bit of a big name for such a little thing. What do you think, Harvey?”

When there was no reply, she looked over at him; he was standing with his back to her, staring into the box. 

“Harvey? What is it?”

“He already has a name, apparently.”

“He does? Well, what is it?”

Turning round to face her, his face blank, he handed her the piece of paper he’d found in the bag of food. 

_”This is Reginald, but he answers to Reggie. Please look after him – he needs a home._  
“Huh.” Donna stared at the writing. “You know, when I said about you having a baby with some bitch I was kidding, right?”

“Donna…”

“I mean, with it being named after you and all.”

“Yeah, I got that. Look, it might be a coincidence.”

“Really? Because Reginald is such a common name? Sorry, ‘Reggie’.”

“Don’t even think about calling me that. Besides, do you seriously think I tell all my _guests_ my middle name? I try not to tell anyone! I mean you saw how Mike reacted…”

Harvey trailed off, realising what he’d said. 

After a few seconds of watching Harvey’s face as it became more and more stricken, Donna coughed, genteelly. “If, and it’s a big if, this puppy has something to do with Mike, we don’t know what it means. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad.”

“Really?” He shook the paper at her. “‘Look after him, he needs a home’. Why would that be, if nothing had happened to him?” 

“I don’t know, Harvey! We don’t even know that he has anything to do with Mike! I mean, where the hell did he get a dog from anyway? He sure as hell didn’t have one before!”

“So now _you_ think it’s a coincidence about the name?”

“No, I just…” she sighed in exasperation. “I just think you’re so desperate for news about him that you’re clutching at straws. Put your lawyer hat back on for a minute and stop jumping to conclusions.”

Putting Reggie on the floor, she reached past him and grabbed one of the bowls, filling it with the dog food from the bag. “If you’re so convinced this dog is from Mike, you better start looking after him, hadn’t you?” 

Shaking his head, but knowing he had lost this fight, Harvey watched as Reggie dived into the bowl Donna placed beside him. 

“I guess he’s kind of cute, in a pathetic sort of way.”

“I’ve heard you say that before.”

Harvey rubbed at his eyes, but was stopped from what would surely have been a biting comeback by his cell phone beeping. He frowned as he saw a text from Elliott. 

“Harvey, I can’t call right now but you better switch on the TV, the chief’s about to make a statement. I’ll speak to you as soon as I can.”

Handing the phone to Donna so she could see, he grabbed the remote and turned it to the usual rolling news channel that had barely reported on much else in the last few hours; the lip-glossed anchor was already in full flow. 

“… where he’s about to make a statement.”

The camera cut to the steps of the Mayor’s office where the Chief of Police was standing, surrounded by microphones. 

“Good evening, thank you all for coming. I can only apologise at how frequently we’ve all been seeing each other in the past few weeks.”

He coughed and shuffled his papers. 

“As you are aware, there was a major incident this morning at the International Centre for Alpha/Omega Research. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the dozens of firefighters who responded to the scene, the fire has now been brought under control. I’m sure you will understand that it is far too early to make any firm statement about the cause of the fire – however, I can confirm that at this time we are treating it as suspicious. Fortunately, as the Institute runs only a skeletal staff on a Sunday, we are hopeful that casualty numbers will be low, but sadly early signs do suggest that there are at least three fatalities. Thank you all, we shall update you as soon as we’re able.”

Ignoring the clamours of the assembled journalists, who by now were shouting out of habit rather than any expectation of being answered, he left the podium.

“Jesus…” Donna sat down, clasping her hands in front of her. “Jesus….”

“That told us exactly nothing we didn’t know already. “ 

He was again interrupted by his cell, this time ringing. 

“Elliott, please tell me you have more information than what we just heard.”

“Not a lot I’m afraid. We’re definitely looking at three fatalities. All we know right now is all three are male – we’re still waiting on the dental records to identify them. Unofficially, our coroner thinks that at least one of them was in his fifties. From the building plans we have it looks like he was found in the animal labs.”

“Animal labs… Elliott, what animals did they have there?”

“Um… let me check.”

Harvey waited impatiently, listening to the pages rustling as Elliott checked his information.

“The girl on the front desk said they had had a variety, mainly mice and rats but also some beagles. I don’t think they’ve found any though.”

“Yeah, well I may have an insight into that. I think you should come over as soon as you get a chance. In the meantime, let me know as soon as you find out anything about those other two dead bodies.”

“You know I will. I’ll see you later Harvey.”

Pocketing his phone, Harvey turned to stare at the puppy. Donna had collected herself again and had been listening to the end of the conversation. 

“They had beagles there.”

“Apparently so.”

“And there’s a beagle with your name here.”

“Yes.”

“This is seeming less and less like a coincidence, isn’t it?”

Harvey nodded, not wanting to articulate what they were both thinking; that the reason the puppy needed a new home was obviously because someone had known about the fire. The question was, did Mike get out, or was he one of the two unidentified corpses?

“Hey hey, stop that! You’ll wreck the counter!”

Reggie had started to whine and was clawing at the side of the counter that had the box on.

Donna glared at Harvey and picked him up, cuddling him to her chest. 

“What’s the matter, little guy? You can’t still be hungry can you?”

“Maybe he wants something from the box. There were toys in there, right?”

“Hmmm.” Without warning, Donna thrust the puppy towards Harvey, who found himself holding, at arm’s length, the wriggling beagle. Picking up the box, she emptied its contents onto the floor. Rolling her eyes at her boss, she finally took pity on him and re-claimed Reggie, kissing the top of his head and putting him on the ground. 

Rather than grabbing a toy, the pup immediately made straight for the ragged towel that had been deposited and curled up tight into a ball, falling asleep almost immediately. Already half in love, Donna’s heart melted completely at the sight.

“I guess it must smell familiar to him.”

Harvey shrugged, but as Donna headed back into the kitchen to start fixing some food, he continued to stare at the small bundle of fur; the towel he was curled up in was so ragged and scrappy that he wondered what could possibly be comforting about it.

-

As much as Reggie was pining for his previous owner, Mike was desperately missing his pup. The sun had long gone down, leaving the only light in the room coming from the blinking LED on the security panel by the door. As much as he was dreading what the Senator was planning on doing to him, the waiting was perhaps even worse; having had several hours to do nothing except look around the room at the various terrifying implements, Mike was beginning to think that nothing Mitchell could do would be as bad as what his brain had been imagining. By the time he was woken from the shallow sleep he’d finally managed by the click of the door, it was almost a relief. Switching the light on, the rant started nearly as soon as he entered. 

“Well, that was an almighty waste of a day. You’d think people would have better things to do than bug me with pointless shit. I don’t give a rat’s ass about most of this crap. Oh ‘boo hoo, my garbage hasn’t been collected in days. Our cleaners haven’t shown up to the office’. But no, I have to get my picture taken with the ‘little people’ to show I care. As if _I_ don’t have better things to do.”

Mike nearly rolled his eyes. If he didn’t already know that the Senator was a piece of shit, the phrase ‘little people’ would have sealed it. 

Approaching the cage, Mitchell surprised Mike by handing him a bottle of water. 

“If there hadn’t been so much of this dumb crap to deal with I’d have been back hours ago, so I’m guessing you must be thirsty.”

Nodding, Mike reached out gingerly and took the bottle; his automatic suspicion of what he was being given mollified by the fact it was still sealed. Breaking it open, he gulped it greedily, having not realised just how parched his throat was until now. 

“Now, I expect you’ve spent today much as I have – looking forward to our time together this evening. Unfortunately I’m going to have to disappoint you. It’s been a long day and I want to give you my full attention, so I’ve decided we should both get a good night’s sleep. I’ve managed to persuade my staff not to disturb me tomorrow, so we’ll have all the time in the world.”

He reached through the bars and patted Mike’s head, as if he were a well behaved dog. Sighing with regret, he turned and headed for the door. 

“You try and have a good night’s sleep.” Seeing Mike was watching him intently, he chuckled. “Don’t worry – I promise to make up for my absence today.” With that promise, he tapped in the code, turned the light off, and left. 

As soon he had gone, Mike let out the breath he had been holding. For the first time, he was grateful to Dr Jackson for something – he had never told the Senator about Mike’s brain, and it seemed as if he hadn’t bothered finding out anything about him for himself. If he had, Mike reasoned, he would have made sure to stop him seeing the eight digits he needed to escape the room. As it was, he had just made a major error. 

Mike’s brief elation at discovering the code to the door didn’t last long; he was still stuck in the locked cage with no means of exit. His only hope would be to try to overpower the Senator when he returned in the morning, but he was exhausted, half-starved, and afraid, and the Senator was a strong, fit alpha. Shivering, he curled up in the corner of the cage, determined to get some rest. After all, he reasoned – if he couldn’t manage to get past the Senator, he might at least get him angry enough for him to kill him. Either way, the ordeal would be over. 

-

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? And did Elliott call you back?”

“Yeah, he can’t make it tonight but he’ll try and get over in the morning. And despite your deflection, it looks like you’re making up a dog bed in _my_ spare room. And I know that’s not what you’re doing, because I know that you know that I would never let a pet sleep in the bedroom.”

“Ah, but I know that you know that I know that you’ll let me do what I want for two reasons.”

Harvey sighed, knowing he had probably lost the argument but refusing to be seen to give up too easily. 

“And what reasons are those?”

“One, because I’m Donna and you know better than to try to overrule me.”

“And two?”

“Two, that this, frankly adorable, little creature is most likely our only current link to Mike, wherever he is. And that we it owe it to Mike to take as good care of his dog as we possibly can. Or would you rather tell him when we finally get him back that, while you knew this was his dog, you couldn’t possibly get _pet hair_ in your guest bedroom.”

Harvey huffed. “That’s low, Donna. Really low. Why don’t you just admit that you’ve fallen in love for the first time and you’re looking forward to getting him into your bed?”

Donna laughed. “I’m pretty sure we already established it’s you who generally takes the bitches home.”

He waved his hand at her. “Fine. But if he pees on the bed you can clean the sheets yourself.”

Donna triumphantly scooped up Reggie and his towel, kissing his little head as she did so. 

“Come on, gorgeous. You and me are going to have a slumber party. And Mr Grumpy isn’t invited.”

\- 

As the sun rose and the darkened room gradually filled with light, the knot in Mike’s stomach got tighter and tighter. He had failed to get any proper sleep, barely managing to doze a couple of times. In the end he had given up and retreated to his mental library but he was so on edge that for the last hour even that hadn’t been working, as he’d jumped at every imagined sound. As with the previous night, the eventual appearance of the Senator came as a kind of relief. 

“Morning, boy. I hope you’re well rested – you’re going to need your energy for today.”  
Mike tried to will his breathing to slow down as the Senator unlocked the cage and opened the door, tucking the key safely back into his breast pocket. 

“Come on now, I don’t particularly want to have to crawl in and drag you out.”

Taking a deep breath, Mike unfolded himself from the back of the cage and slowly shuffled forward, his legs cramping as the blood started circulating properly after a night of discomfort. Senator Mitchell smiled at him as he slid out the cage door, and reached out to haul him up. 

“Good boy.”

Keeping his grip on Mike’s arm, rather than grabbing any of the myriad devices around the room, he instead pulled him towards the desk. Grabbing the chair out from behind it, he pushed Mike onto his knees. 

“I thought I’d start you off nice and easy, show you how considerate I can be. All you need to do is show me what a good little cocksucker you are. Now, get ready to – JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!”

The sudden outburst was caused by the blaring of the Star Spangled Banner coming from the Senator’s cell phone which he had left on the desk.

“Can’t these fucking dipshits leave me alone for one day? WHAT?” 

Mike’s head shot up as Mitchell grabbed his cell and pretty much screamed into the receiver. 

“I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed this morning. What the hell are you talking about? How is that my concern? I doubt I’m the only investor. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Mike risked a glance towards the door. It was only a few feet away, but even in his distraction he couldn’t believe the Senator wouldn’t notice. Still, it might be the only opportunity he would get. Staying on his knees, he started to inch slowly away, hoping that whatever crisis was happening would keep the Senator occupied for long enough. 

“Well how the fuck should I know? I collected, and I left. Nobody even knows I was there! Of course I didn’t burn the fucking place down. What the fuck do I pay you all for? Fine. Well you better be right about that. More than 3 hours and your ass is fired. YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

Too late, Mike realised that the he had hung up and this last invective was aimed at him. Before he had the chance to react, Mitchell had grabbed him by the hair and wrenched him back. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You think you can get away? You think you can _escape_ from me? How were you gonna even leave this room? You dumbass cunt.”

As he spoke, he kicked Mike hard in the stomach then slammed his head into the desk. His vision swimming as the pain blossomed behind his eyes, Mike crumpled onto the floor in front of his captor. 

“Fucking omegas. Y’all as dumb as shit, but you still won’t accept that alphas should be in charge. Well we could have done this the easy way, but I guess I’ll just have to make sure you won’t be trying this again. Figure Jackson had the right idea with hobbling you before.” Here he kicked at Mike’s cut foot. “I reckon he didn’t go far enough though.”

Dazed, with his head pounding, Mike tried to force himself upright as the Senator pulled open one of the drawers in the desk and withdrew two large nails. His eyes widened in horror as Mitchell walked back over to him, and, in a panic, tried to crawl away on his hands and knees. He felt a hand close over his ankle and wrench him back, before he was flipped over onto his back. 

“You see? You omegas are your own worst enemy. You’ve only got yourself to blame for this.”

On his back, Mike didn’t see the nail go in but the sudden burst of agony was like his foot was on fire and he howled. Seconds later, the other foot exploded in pain; he barely noticed that he was screaming until Mitchell reached down and slapped his face, hard. 

Grabbing his arms, he dragged him back over to the cage and forced him through the door. Slamming it shut, he looked down at Mike with contempt. 

“Now, as much as I wanted to start our relationship on the right note, it’s better that you learn now there is no escape for you. This is your entire world until I decide otherwise. There is _no way out_ unless it’s through my bidding.” 

He walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a towel, wiping the blood off his hands and tutting in disgust when he found his pants were now soaked.

“Now, because of you, I have to go and change, and then I have to go and deal with some bullshit that my incompetent staff can’t cope with. I hope when I get back you’ll have thought about the mistakes you’ve made and be ready to be the good little omega I know is inside you.”

Throwing the towel on the floor, he gave Mike one last disappointment filled glance, then was gone. 

In the cage, his body on fire with the agony that was filling his feet from the nails that had been driven into them, an almost maniacal grin started to spread across Mike’s face. Senator Mitchell was convinced that he had shown him that escape was impossible but, not for the first time, he had underestimated him; he had learned nothing of the sort.


End file.
